The irrepressibly mischievous spirit of Carlo Goldoni, who revolutionized Italian Enlightenment comedy by combining Molière's structure, wit, and biting satire with beloved commedia dell'arte character types, comes winging across the footlights despite this lackluster production of his 18th-century comic masterpiece.
Goldoni's feverishly funny script easily stands alongside theatre's classic farces, from ancient Greco-Roman comedies with the slave-who's-smarter-than-his-master archetype to Shakespearean romps like Twelfth Night. The fast-moving plot follows the exploits of clever servant Truffaldino, who attaches himself to two employers, then juggles his dual duties in a whirlwind of ever-snowballing hilarity amidst broken marriage contracts, duels, stolen letters, and mistaken identities. Imagine Steve Martin, Nathan Lane, and Groucho Marx rolled into one in a curly white wig and gold-buttoned waistcoat: definitely someone you want at your dinner party.
The right cast of seasoned comic actors can bounce itself and the audience completely senseless on Goldoni's remarkable trampoline of a play. And while Anne and Stuart Vaughan's accessible new adaptation serves the playwright's vision well, a successful production requires a Truffaldino who is a master of physical and verbal comedy; a whirlwind of ferocious, almost mad comic energy (think Jack Black); and a font of sexual charisma. He must be an endlessly turning windmill of comic gesture and speech who keeps the action at fever pitch and the audience clutching its sides throughout. Unfortunately, Steve Campbell, a capable actor, is woefully out of his depth in this part. And as the cross-dressing Beatrice, Jana Mestecky would be far more effective with a lowered voice, a mustache, and a tamped-down bosom.
Supporting-cast standouts are the wonderful Alessandra Ziviani, spot-on as Clarice, the would-be bride who spends most of the play in tears when she's not trying to commit suicide; Ronald Rand in a delightful comic turn as the Latin-spouting doctor; and Alok Tewari, a commanding presence as the put-upon Pantalone. But Martin A. Thaler's dazzling 18th-century costumes easily upstage this insufficiently zany production.
Presented by the New Globe Theatre
at Theater 3, 311 W. 43rd St., 3rd floor, NYC.
Jan. 3-21. Tue.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.
(212) 279-4200 or www.ticketcentral.com.