Adapted by E.P. Dowdall from the Hungarian play Illatszetar by Miklos Laszlo
Directed by Brandon Ferruccio
Produced by Martha Hunter & Sherman Wayne
The warm and gentle Christmas love story that inspired The Shop Around the Corner, She Loves Me and You’ve Got Mail. Feuding Perfumerie employees George Horvath and Amalia Balash have each fallen in love with their secret pen pal. What will happen on Christmas Eve when they discover their lover’s true identity?
All I can say is for those who enjoy this story of mistaken identity between pen-pal lovers should see one of those versions rather than the overly long and drawn out adapted version of PARFUMERIE by E.P. Dowdall now onstage at Theatre Palisades, which at 2 ½ hours seemed to drag out the central love story of BWW Review: PARFUMERIE Takes Much Too Long to Get to the Love Story at its HeartGeorge and Amalia's to the brink of boredom. Perhaps this was due to the lackluster caliber of many in the cast and the total lack of the play working as the ensemble piece it was meant to be, perhaps due to Brandon Ferruccio's direction which seemed made it seem more like a showcase for each actor to say their lines and overplay their characters as caricatures without really worrying about the give-and-take necessary between actors to make a story believable and interesting. Perhaps as the run continues through December 9 the actors will learn to be onstage as a team to generate the much-needed higher energy level.
The robust cast that appears in this production is a cross blend of roles that can be humorous in nature, yet shows some dramatic interludes throughout. The comedy depicted isn't of the “laugh-out-loud” stance, and the drama isn't anything that can be called as “heavy”. The cast that perform these forms of dramatic comedy episodes (and vise versa) keep everything in check thanks to Brandon Ferruccio's stage direction.
All I can say is for those who enjoy this story of mistaken identity between pen-pal lovers should see one of those versions rather than the overly long and drawn out adapted version of PARFUMERIE by E.P. Dowdall now onstage at Theatre Palisades, which at 2 ½ hours seemed to drag out the central love story of BWW Review: PARFUMERIE Takes Much Too Long to Get to the Love Story at its HeartGeorge and Amalia's to the brink of boredom. Perhaps this was due to the lackluster caliber of many in the cast and the total lack of the play working as the ensemble piece it was meant to be, perhaps due to Brandon Ferruccio's direction which seemed made it seem more like a showcase for each actor to say their lines and overplay their characters as caricatures without really worrying about the give-and-take necessary between actors to make a story believable and interesting. Perhaps as the run continues through December 9 the actors will learn to be onstage as a team to generate the much-needed higher energy level.
The robust cast that appears in this production is a cross blend of roles that can be humorous in nature, yet shows some dramatic interludes throughout. The comedy depicted isn't of the “laugh-out-loud” stance, and the drama isn't anything that can be called as “heavy”. The cast that perform these forms of dramatic comedy episodes (and vise versa) keep everything in check thanks to Brandon Ferruccio's stage direction.
