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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us April 30, 2005 In Review Not much warmth in ‘Napoli’ By Robert H. Miller Tidings Reviewer The proverb “See Naples and die,” variously attributed to Virgil, Goethe, and Anon., bespoke of its magnificent natural beauty. It is not the city evoked by Eduardo De Filippo in his 1945 play “Napoli Milionaria!” (Naples Millionaires!) that Oregon Shakespeare Festival is now staging at the Bowmer Theatre through October 31. He, rather, is concerned with the ugly underside. Gennaro (Richard Elmore) offers Amalia (Linda Alper) a cup of coffee as they head into a long night of waiting. Jenny Graham | Courtesy of OSF One of the intriguing features of Michael Dempsey’s scenic design is its perspective: by stripping off the roof of the frugally furnished street-level flat of the Jovines, he reveals the crowded tall tenements at the rear, with the balconies overhung with clothing, and a shaft of vivid blue sky. Set in Italy during World War II, this bitter-sweet fable explores the extremes to which one family goes to survive and stave off starvation through black-marketeering conducted by the matriarch, Amalia Jovine (Linda Alper), who is remarkably adept and rapacious. Her husband, Gennaro (Richard Elmore), an unemployed tram driver, fearful of the police and fascisti, deplores her activities (if it was up to him, they would not do such things) and wants the family to “live decent.” We soon learn that Amalia has another war on her hands, a cut-price war, brought about when a neighbor, jealous of Amalia’s prowess, sets up in opposition, lowers the lire charged for a cup of coffee, and maliciously exposes Amalia to the authorities. Which, of course, brings the police hotfoot to the Jovine household. What follows is a grotesque ritual of death, with Gennaro prone on the double bed strewn with flowers and surrounded by weeping and wailing family and friends (including two men disguised as nuns). The police chief Ciappa (Tony DeBruno) isn’t fooled and even discovers the cache of comestibles secreted under the mattress. So he plays along. But then the air raid sirens whine, RAF warplanes throb overhead, and shortly the bombs begin to fall and explode. Eventually, the all clear sounds. The incident inspires respect between the two men. It has been a contest of wills, and I have to give the edge to Gennaro for wonderfully wiggling his toes, once the danger is past! In addition, it is a chance for OSF to flaunt its justly famed “special effects.” So, where do we go from here? Eduardo, as the playwright is affectionately called in Italy, moves the play forward some 14 months. The Jovine’s habitation has been given a make-over (poshed up) as befits a millionaire family, thanks to Amalia’s shrewd aggrandizement. Southern Italy is now under British/American occupation. But there’s no sign of Gennaro; he has long been missing but turns up fortuitously, much the worse for wear, having finally escaped from a German labor camp. He is greeted with pressing family problems — the son, Amedeo (Juan Rivera LeBron), and his friend, Peppe the Jack (Shad Willingham), are thriving thieves (stealing tires off cars); the daughter Maria Rosaria (Heather Robinson) is pregnant from an American serviceman who has since deserted her; and the younger daughter, Rituccia (whom the audience never sees), is sick with a persistent fever, while desperate tries are afoot to obtain the necessary prescription from pharmacies all around the town. The play drew warm applause from the first-night audience, but left me less enthused. The scenic design by Michael Dempsey, costumes by Robert Morgan, and the new translation by Linda Alper and Beatrice Basso (also the Dramaturg) are strengths indeed, as is the direction of Libby Appel. “Napoli Milionaria!” effectively demonstrates that the love of money is the root of all evil, yet its characters mostly lack substance and do not engage us. Neither of the leading characters is endearing — Alper’s Amalia is as hard as nails, lost in a delirium of lire, if you will pardon the pun, even if at play’s end she takes a reality check, while Elmore’s Gennaro is meek and full of his wartime experiences, coming home “expecting to find a damaged family, even a shattered family ... but at least an honest one.” This is not to say that there aren’t memorable and moving moments. I think especially of the scene when Ricardo Spasiano (Richard Howard), an accountant, who has been ruined by Amalia, has the medicine her sick daughter needs. He gives it to her without vengeance. “You already have everything that was mine,” he reminds her. “And now you’ve had to run all over Napoli, begging people for help, just like I had to beg. Wouldn’t it be better if we could simply knock on each others’ doors?” I was struck, too, by Shad Willingham as Peppe the Jack, a minor character who strikes a major chord. Early in the play he repeats a phrase, saying “They dropped a lot of bombs last night. A lot of bombs.” Later, he tells Gennaro: “I’m making money ... lots of money.” I caught the echo. Terri McMahon scores as Assunta, the niece of Amalia’s neighbor, Adelaide Schiano (Judith-Marie Bergan), dressed in widow’s black, whose naivete and hysterical, convulsive laugh earned a big hand from the audience. And I like the way Heather Robinson as daughter Maria Rosaria bravely stands up to her mother from whom she needed support not condemnation. 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