You might want to slam the door on your click-baity breaking-news obsession as Pioneer Theatre Company premieres the new hotel-room farce “A Comedy of Tenors.”
That strategy might help theatergoers appreciate the opera-scaled comedy of Ken Ludwig’s new show, featuring beloved characters from “Lend Me a Tenor.”
“There’s really no politics involved in this play at all, which is a nice respite. In comedy, funny is funny,” says Gregory North, who plays Tito and Beppo in “A Comedy of Tenors,” two Italian singers at different stages of their careers.
“Tenor” — one of the world’s most-produced contemporary comedies — has been a Utah audience favorite since PTC premiered the show in 1993. Theatergoers made a hit out of Utah Shakespeare Festival’s 2007 musical version by Peter Sham and Brad Carroll, which went on to a London production in 2012.
Now Pioneer is bringing to life another chapter in the career of Italian superstar Tito Merelli (Gregory North), a world-famous opera singer worried about his rivals, supported by his equally passionate, equally loud wife, Maria (Jennifer Cody). The story is set in a Paris hotel in the late 1930s, on the eve of “the concert of the century.”
Pioneer audiences seem to especially like farces, such as “Noises Off!” and “Tenor,” a title regularly listed on audience surveys. “Everyone likes comedy of the ridiculous,” is how PTC artistic director Karen Azenberg tells it.
Ludwig’s 2015 comedy is unusual in that it’s a sequel featuring familiar characters. Pioneer is hoping to appeal to theatergoers who loved the play, as well as those who are interested in revivals, Azenberg says. Fans of the original will already know the relationships of the characters. It’s just like watching the new “Will & Grace” on TV, jokes Cody.
North directed “Tenor” in Santa Monica some years back and has been intrigued at how his perceptions of Tito have changed in this new chapter. “He’s a big star in a midlife crisis when we meet him at the top of the show,” says North, a veteran Los Angeles-based actor who has appeared on Broadway in shows such as “Into the Woods,” “The Secret Garden” and Sting’s “The Last Ship.” He adds, joking: “I would like to tell you I can’t relate.”
Fans of the original should expect to see more of the passion and ego the character is known for, North says. But in the new comedy, Tito shows more vulnerability and relatability. “Opera is grand,” the actor says. “These are grand-sized people.”
One of the production’s visual gags comes through the husband-and-wife pairing of North with Cody; he stands 6 feet 2 inches, while she is 5 feet tall.
Cody played Maggie, “Tenor’s” ingenue, in a Massachusetts regional production in 2007 and is thrilled to be returning to the story as Maria. The character is more fully developed in this script, she says.
“This is a more truthful version,” says Cody, whose Broadway résumé includes “Shrek” and “Seussical,” while she voiced Charlotte LaBouff in Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog.” “Her passion is real. Because she loves her husband so much, the yelling and the fighting is so real.”
Cody says she draws upon her Portuguese family heritage to play the passionate Italian wife. “She just understands the rhythms,” says PTC guest director Wes Grantom, while praising the entire cast’s comedic chops.
Grantom is returning to PTC after directing readings in the company’s Play-by-Play development series. His wife, Broadway actor Amelia McClain, played Juliet in PTC’s 2009 production of “Romeo and Juliet” and Emily in the company’s 2010 production of “Our Town.”
“Everyone in this play sacrifices something for the glow of the spotlight,” the director says. “Everyone in this play has to make some sort of a life sacrifice in order to pursue the career they wanted.”
“A Comedy of Tenors” <br> When • Oct. 20-Nov. 4, 7 p.m. Monday-Thursday; 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, with additional 2 p.m. Saturday matinees<br> Where • Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre, 300 S. 1400 East, Salt Lake City<br> Tickets • $25-$44 in advance ($5 more day of show); half-price tickets for students K-12 on Monday and Tuesday; pioneertheatre.org