Claudia Shear and Jonathan Cake in a scene from Restoration
(Photo credit: Joan Marcus)
Playwright/actress Claudia Shear writes terrific parts for herself. She also has had a very successful partnership with the New York Theater Workshop. In 1995, her Blown Sideways through Life transferred to the Cherry Lane Theatre and won her the Obie Award. Her 2000 Dirty Blonde made the trip uptown to Broadway and to five Tony nominations, as well as a Theatre World Award. Now she has reunited with the New York Theater Workshop and her Blown Sideways through Life director Christopher Ashley in the charming and witty new romantic comedy, Restoration, whose title turns out to be both literal and metaphoric.
In Dirty Blonde, Shear investigated the fascination with female icon Mae West. In Restoration, she has switched her gaze to a 500-year-old male icon, Michelangelo’s 17-foot statue of David now housed at Florence’s Accademia Gallery. Inspired by female art restorer Dr. Franca Falleti who won the commission to clean the David for its 500th anniversary in 2004, Restoration tells an all new story. The comedy also has a good deal to say about art, life and love.
Her heroine Giulia Alfani, played by Shear, is a world-class Italian-American art restorer now relegated to teaching at Brooklyn College due to a libel suit which has curtailed her career. It is 2003 and although she has sent in a proposal to be the one to clean the David of years of grime and pollution, she does not expect to be taken seriously at this time. When the first choice is rejected, Giulia is asked to appear before the committee and explain her methods. She must win over Cultural Minister Marciante (Natalija Nogulich), the Accademia’s press secretary Daphne Tornabuoni (Tina Benko), and her own former teacher and mentor, Professor Williams (Alan Mandell), who is rooting for her. However, Giulia’s lack of people skills and her sharp tongue may get her into trouble.
Giulia gets the job and is suddenly confronted with the statue on a daily basis, the routine at the Accademia, and Massimo Rispoli (Jonathan Cake), the museum’s head of security whose job it is to guard the statue from the public. However, it is not only the statue of David which needs restoration.
The assignment may restore Giulia’s professional reputation in the field, but the overweight, unmarried, cantankerous Giulia has not been in a relationship for years. Her explanation is that she is “weird, aggressive, successful, and picky.” This does not take into consideration Giulia’s damaged self-image which doesn’t let her compete with beautiful women like Daphne or relax with men as handsome as Max. Max, on the other hand, bored by twenty years of marriage, is used to women throwing themselves at him. In the course of the year that Giulia works to meet her deadline, her relationship with Max blossoms and she must come to terms with herself as an artist as well as a woman.
The play is organized by the months of the year as Giulia works on different parts of the statue according to her prearranged schedule. Set designer Scott Pask has had the challenge of recreating the Accademia and the statue of David on the stage of New York Theatre Workshop, and he has cleverly handled the assignment: a square pillar surrounded by scaffolding stands center stage and on each of its four sides are visible specific sections of the David highlighted in frames. As time passes and as Giulia finishes the sections on one side of the pillar, it rotates to reveal yet other aspects of the statue. A coup de theatre is saved for the final scene when the entire statue is revealed for the play’s climax, the 500th anniversary ceremony.
As a playwright, Shear is wise enough to keep her story of the affect that Italy and the David have on Giulia from turning into another version of The Time of the Cuckoo/Summertime where a romantic American woman falls under the false spell of Italy and Italian men. As Giulia, Shear retains her feistiness and doesn’t let down her guard far enough to become just another statistic of love under the Italian sun. The role which is tailor-made for its star fits her like a glove.
On another level, Restoration is a sex comedy as Giulia deals with her attraction to both the marble David, the most beautiful male nude in all of art, and the flesh and blood Max who is used to teasing foreplay with women. Shear is also blessed in her choice of Ashley whose direction is as assured and polished as Giulia’s hand on the marble of David.
The virile Cake’s easy charisma and charm shine through Max’s machismo which is partly a cover up for his erudition, and he is just as good at verbal dueling as Giulia. One wonders if Cake was chosen for his own magnificent physique which has been revealed in various states of undress in his other New York stage appearances, but David’s skin remains the only one under scrutiny. The only problem with Cake’s casting is his Italian accent which comes and goes, allowing his native British one to make its presence known half of the time.
Nogulich proves to be very versatile appearing as the cultural minister initially on Giulia’s side, as Beatrice, the museum’s worn-out cleaning lady, and finally as Nonna, an elderly art patron as enamored of the statue as Giulia. Mandell’s crisp English art professor is a cameo worthy of several British stage knights. As the beautiful and arrogant Daphne, Benko is a fascinating mixture of hauteur and self-deprecation.
David C. Woolard has dressed his men in business suits and his Italian women in the highest fashion, while Giulia is seen in clothes that reflect her job description and later her own self-image. Dan Moses Schreier is responsible for the original music and sound design that complements the Michelangelo statue.
Claudia Shear’s Restoration is a charming comedy in which the workplace of a famous museum becomes the setting for an exploration of the place where art and love meet. Under the smooth, crisp direction of Christopher Ashley, the delightful cast duels using Shear’s clever language as though they had fine rapiers at their disposal. A sunny warm comedy with colorful characters, Restoration is that rare entertainment which also teaches a message about life.
Restoration (through June 13)
New York Theatre Workshop, 79 E. 4th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets call, 212-279-4200 or http://www.ticketcentral.com