Wednesday, January 21, 1998
A couple of wild and crazy guys
THEATER Steve Martin stages a comedic meeting between Pablo
Picasso and Albert Einstein in "Picasso at the Lapin Agile"
By Cheryl Klein
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name. For
Norm and Cliff it was Cheers. For Steve Martin it was the L.A.
Troubadour. For comedian Paul Provenza it was New York’s Improv.
And for Pablo Picasso and Albert Einstein it was the Lapin
Agile.
Bohemian dives have a habit of breeding artistic genius. OK, so
Cliff’s vast knowledge of the postal system was more creepy than
genius, but watering holes where stars-to-be bounce ideas back and
forth have historically enraptured audiences (think "Rent’s" Live
Cafe and "Sunset Boulevard’s" Schwab’s Drugstore). Steve Martin’s
"Picasso at the Lapin Agile," which begins a two-week run tonight
at the Wilshire Theatre, follows this theatrical tradition but
gives it a comedic twist by posing a hypothetical meeting of two
people who we already know made it big.
In turn-of-the-century Paris, Picasso is about to rock the art
world with "Demoiselles d’Avignon," the first cubist painting, and
Einstein is about to rock reality with his theory of relativity. As
they pull up stools at the Lapin Agile, though, brushes and numbers
sometimes take a back seat to loftier matters.
"You’re catching Picasso at a point where he’s just hanging out
in a bar with friends, trying to get laid," says Paul Provenza, who
plays the then twenty-something artist.
After more than two decades doing stand-up, Provenza knows
comedy and the importance of finding fertile ground in which to
develop it. He recalls the sense of community that pervaded the
Improv in the mid to late ’70s.
"It was a hotbed for creativity," Provenza says. "There was an
old preacher’s pulpit inside the bar and comics would just hover in
that booth … Some really, really successful comedians came out of
that cocoon and nobody could have ever planned that. It just
happened."
Unfortunately, Provenza feels that the tight-knit world of
comedy has unraveled in recent years, as the scene expands and
comics become more business-driven.
So where will we find the next Lapin Agile?
"There may be one or two in Westwood right now that UCLA kids
are hanging out at," says director Randall Arney. "You hope that in
the audience (of the play), there might be a couple of 23-,
24-year-olds that could in fact forever change the shape of the
21st century."
Picasso and Einstein’s influence on the present century is
almost immeasurable in retrospect, but initially both innovators
met doubt and even hostility.
"I was never a big fan of Picasso’s," Provenza admits. "Let me
qualify that by saying I used to see his work and I used to think
it was really disturbing. I used to find it really violent and sort
of hostile."
And certainly the mangled bodies of "Guernica" and the mish mash
of brown that calls itself a portrait of Gertrude Stein aren’t
obvious living room decor. "That actually is why his work is
beautiful – because it’s so honest and evocative," Provenza
concludes.
Both Provenza and Arney can’t seem to praise Martin’s script
enough, noting that the actor/comedian incorporates elements of
Picasso and Einstein’s philosophies into the very structure of the
play.
"A lot of people think, ‘It’s Steve Martin. It must be like a
film script. Really linear and sort of obvious.’ But Steve really
embraced the opportunities that theater affords a writer," Provenza
says, noting that as a performer, he relishes theater’s absence of
a laugh track. "The whole notion of it seems like it’s a straight
line, but it’s really not. It’s a metaphor for a lot of what
Einstein speaks about in the play. In the universe, there’s a lot
of stuff that seems to be straight lines, but they’re really
curved.
"But when I talk about it that way, it sounds like, ‘Wow, what a
heavy play’ when really it’s just a blast."
If the Outer Critics’ Circle, which bestowed "Lapin Agile" with
awards for best play and best writer in 1996, has anything to say
about it, Martin has successfully bred off-beat comedy with the
inherent struggle of youthful genius.
The play also set a longest-run record at the Westwood Playhouse
(now the Geffen) in its West Coast premiere, and Mark Nelson won an
Obie award for his portrayal of Einstein.
"From the ridiculous to the sublime, the play has amazingly
exciting ideas in it and yet it’s really stupidly funny at the same
time," Arney says.
Martin has revised the play several times since he and Arney
(then artistic director at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre, where the
show premiered) first sat down to hash out the staging in 1993. The
current production brings together nine actors from various
productions around the country.
"It’s kind of an all-star cast," Arney says. "Because it’s set
in a bar, rarely do any of the characters leave the stage. So
although it’s about Picasso and Einstein, Steve has created a real
ensemble piece here that is dependent on nine crackerjack actors
who can work seamlessly as an ensemble."
And what would Pablo and Albert themselves think of the
result?
"I think they would love it, actually, because it’s very
intuitive and it’s very playful," Provenza says. "It makes some
really great points, but it never sacrifices its view of ‘We’re all
just here to have a good time.’"
"By all historical accounts, they both had wonderful senses of
humor," Arney adds. "When we did the play in New York, one of
Picasso’s sons came to see the play. We were nervous about that,
but … not only did he have a great evening, but thought it was a
tribute to his father."
The hybrid of humor and drama parallels the play’s mingling of
science and art; again, apparent opposites that end up
complementing each other.
"Picasso sort of looks over at Einstein and thinks of him as not
being a creative person," Arney says. "And what we learn by the end
of the play is that these two guys have a lot more in common than
apart … There’s a real science to art and a real art to
science."
Provenza, concluding that audiences will laugh out loud and
absorb newfound connections, puns to make both men proud: "It
really surprises people on both sides of the equation, so to
speak."
THEATER: "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" runs through Feb. 1 at the
Wilshire Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. Tickets range
from $32 to $42. For more information, call (213) 365-3500.
The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection
Pablo Picasso’s painting, "At the Lapin Agile."
Broadway LA
Comedian Paul Provenza takes on the dramatic role of Pablo
Picasso.