Review by Neal Newman
February 12, 2023
ASPECTS OF LOVE at the Media Theatre closes on February 19. This review is late due to the cancellation of the opening night due to illness. The cast is now in tip-top shape, but you only have one more week to see it.
ASPECTS is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s forgotten musical. At least in this country. The show, his follow-up to PHANTOM, opened in London to reasonably good reviews and audience response but was positively murdered by critics in the United States and closed as soon as the advance sale ran out. It remains Lloyd Webber’s most mature work. He tries his hand at complex and mature relationships rather than singing trains, singing cats, or falling chandeliers. This production GETS it.
Based on the acclaimed (at least in England) novel by David Garnett, the book was a cultural event for young schoolboys in 1955, and Lloyd Webber remembered it for future production. It tells of Alex, a 17-year-old lad who develops an adolescent crush on Rose, an actress at least ten years older.
He whisks her away to a lavish hideaway, and they begin an affair. His wealthy uncle, George, the actual owner, appears and is enchanted with Rose, and she is likewise with his apparent grace, maturity, and older man’s sexiness.
After a long courtship involving George’s longtime mistress Giulietta, George marries Rose, and they have a daughter, Jenny. Act II takes place 15 years later. George is now an older man needing frequent naps, and Alex is a career soldier. He visits and meets Jenny, who develops an adolescent crush on him. Alex finds himself involved with all aspects of love, including older/younger, younger/older, with a dash of incest and lesbianism.
Lloyd Webber makes much of this intriguing. The cast at the Media Theatre is spot on, delivering the angst and the beautiful music.
I saw ASPECTS OF LOVE on Broadway and found it an intimate story in a too-large theater swamped by overproduction. Media Director Jesse Cline has finally delivered the musical I had hoped for: a superb cast, a simple but attractive setting, with acting that believably delivers the complex story. The many locations are indicated with a few discreet pieces of furniture, with attractive rapidly changing slides and films to create the many scenes. The elaborate amusement parks, carnival settings, and haylofts are not missed.
The designers are Matthew Miller (scenic), Tristan Horan (projections), and Lilian Lee (lights). Their work blends seductively with the continuous music, directed by Ben Kapilow using Lloyd Webber’s chamber orchestration. The costumes are simple and create the mood of 1950’s Europe, but Rose and Giulietta have only one costume each. These dresses are knockouts, but certainly not realistic. Perhaps Cline sees the women as unchanging while the men mature and advance in years. They are the constant “woman.” The large Media theater has been revamped, with nearly half the seats curtained off and the stage thrust toward the audience. It now has the feel of a European playhouse.
Emily Goulazian, as Rose, has it all: acting, singing, and a look to drive renaissance painters mad. She’s not afraid of appearing unsympathetic, either. She is a tough cookie who likes luxury and older men. Gianni Palmarini, as Alex, is convincing as a callow youth and a mature army officer. His LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING
is not the traditional power ballad anthem, but a man searching for answers. John D. Smitherman is unforgettable with OTHER PLEASURES, which superbly creates a sexually powerful man facing old age.
Sophie Jones, as Giulietta, is a wild and likable artist who believes you must take life as it comes and enjoy it
while Leah Senseney as Jenny captures the adolescent blooming of a young woman.
The acting and singing skill of the entire company is notable in handling the many recitatives that bridge the songs. It soon becomes clear that Lloyd Webber has written only about seven tunes and tons of “recit.” The lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart range from good to clumsy, but the spaces between the songs are not up to the composer’s significant events. Amazingly, the cast can sing these moments as if they were talking to each other.
Through the years, I have come to treasure the winter when Jesse Cline selects a less popular musical for rediscovery. I have thoroughly enjoyed the chance to experience THRILL ME, THE WILD PARTY, SIDESHOW, THE DESERT SONG, and many others. What will he choose next year?
Running time: Two Hours twenty minutes with an intermission.
ASPECTS OF LOVE plays at Media Theatre through February 19. Media Theatre is at 104 E. State Street, Media, PA. Buy tickets online at mediatheatre.org or call the box office at 610-891-0100.