Matrix Theatre Bjørn Johnson and
Fiama Fricano star in “Poet’s
Garden.”
By Kelsey McConnell
Daily Bruin Contributor
A year of painting, infused with romantic scandal and a
mutilated ear has now been set to music.
Inspired by artists Paul Gauguin and Vincent Van Gogh’s
volatile friendship, the musical “Poet’s Garden,”
which is based on a true story, plays through June 3 at the Matrix
Theatre.
The writers of the book and now the musical, John Allee and Gary
Matanky, set their story in 1888 in Arles, France. It was during
this brief period of time that Gauguin and Van Gogh lived together,
fostering works of art and feelings for the local cafe proprietress
Marie Ginoux.
As the play opens, Marie’s husband Joseph-Michel has just
purchased the cafe where he and his wife work. Joseph-Michel is a
hard-working and honest man, but he lacks the passion that the
middle-aged Marie craves. The couple’s relationship is
further complicated when rebel painter Vincent Van Gogh rents a
room in their home.
Joseph-Michel harbors an instant dislike for the artist but
Marie begins a friendship with the manic Van Gogh. The townspeople
are abuzz with rumors about Marie and Van Gogh and things only get
more tangled when Van Gogh’s friend Paul Gauguin arrives in
town.
Marie is transfixed by the womanizing Gauguin, performed as a
charming yet dangerous artist by Steven Memel, the moment he shoots
her a manly stare. Ultimately, Marie finds that she must decide
between remaining in a safe but decidedly unspontaneous life with
her husband, or leaving her rural village to find her place in a
larger, more cosmopolitan world.
Fiama Fricano’s performance of Marie, as a complex
character whose dilemma brings the audience to frustration, is well
done. The audience wants to like her in the beginning of the
musical because Arles seems to be smothering her potential. As the
musical goes on, however, Marie becomes cloying and her perpetual
state of confusion is annoying.
The thread of Marie’s conflicted relationships gets some
much needed comic relief from a mailman who is either drunk or
looking to get drunk when he isn’t reading the mail of the
townspeople. The mailman’s pregnant wife, at times shrewish
and at times sincerely kind, is a nice compliment to the inebriated
postal worker.
The postman, played by Brad Blaisdell, and his wife, played by
Dina Bennett, are hands down the most charming characters and
actors in the production. Both make the transition from comic to
serious characters, to singers, to lovers, to confidants of Marie
and her husband, effortlessly. Their banter is both biting and
amusing.
During the opening scene of the second act, for instance, the
postman’s song of sexual innuendo toward his wife marks the
funniest part of the entire musical.
The other acting in “Poet’s Garden” also
leaves little to be desired. Bjørn Johnson’s Van Gogh is
appropriately fiery and insolent, yet still amusing and empathetic.
Michael DeVries, on the other hand, as Marie’s husband,
successfully appears confused throughout the evening and delivers
well with his kind and comforting singing voice.
Especially interesting is the musical’s set resemblance to
Van Gogh’s painting “The Bedroom,” with bright
colors and sloppy brushstrokes. The floor of the stage and the wall
behind the set are painted with the short brush strokes
characteristic of Van Gogh, and the luminous greens, blues, yellows
and oranges of the set are beautiful and hypnotizing.
Overall, the main ingredients of the musical are the shallow
soul-searching of a country wife and the complicated moods of two
painters ““ one marked by erratic genius and the other by easy
machismo. Out of these elements comes a musical that is not
profoundly touching, but still interesting and fun to watch. The
actors have good chemistry all around and the musical as a whole
lacks the pretentiousness that plagues many historically-based
works. “Poet’s Garden” may not set the world on
fire, but it makes for a fine night of theater-going.
THEATER: “Poet’s Garden” is
now showing at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles,
through June 3. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8
p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased by
calling (310) 289-2999. For more information visit www.poetsgardenthemusical.com.