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REVIEW Review: 'Monte Cristo' moves beyond the thrills By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 15, 2015 @ 2:18 pm Updated Jun 15, 2015 at 3:58 PM By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 15, 2015 @ 2:18 pm Updated Jun 15, 2015 at 3:58 PM » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> The word “melodrama” has acquired some onerous baggage since the early 19th century, when it meant simply a play with music. Melodramas embodied the Romantic era’s stress on emotion and heroism, qualities that could (and would) be exaggerated, leading to flat characters, Byzantine plots, hidden identities, unlikely coincidences and the like. But the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s new production of “The Count of Monte Cristo,” directed by Marcela Lorca, shows that even with the usual sensational trappings, melodrama can still tell a story with human depth and rounded characters whose dilemmas touch us on a level beyond mere thrills. In the production’s opening scene, a ship’s sails billow above the stage of the OSF’s Elizabethan Theatre, where sailors stand on the deck of the cargo ship Pharaon. They sway with the rise and fall of the sea, alerting us of Lorca’s penchant for filling the stage with movement. A guest director at OSF, she is director of movement at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, and she has a knack for incorporating visual elements to work with the text in telling the story. Young Edmond Dantes (Al Espinsoa), the ship’s first mate, will be given command of the ship after the death of the captain, and he’s set to marry his sweetheart, the beautiful Mercedes Mondego (Vilma Silva). But it’s not to be. A quick refresher. Danglars (Raffi Barsoumian), the ship’s cargo officer, uses an innocent stop Dantes made at Elba to pick up a letter from the exiled Napoleon (anathema to the restored Bourbon monarchy) to frame Dantes. He’s aided by Mercedes’ treacherous cousin Fernand (Michael Sharon), the drunken innkeeper Caderousse (Richard Elmore), and the slimy prosecutor Villefort (Peter Frechette), who lets the case against Dantes proceed for his own reasons even though he realizes Dantes’ innocence. Dantes is imprisoned for 18 years in the horrific Chateau d’if, where he meets the imprisoned Faria (Derrick Lee Weeden), a priest whose death provides him with the means to escape and find the old man’s treasure, which he uses to re-establish himself as the wealthy, mysterious Count of Monte Cristo and to dedicate himself to that dish that’s best served cold. The first act had some opening-night bumps and some impressive stagecraft. For the scene in which Dantes, wrapped in Faria’s death shroud, is thrown from high on the isle’s chateau into the sea, Lorca has the actors use blue fabric wave props to receive and envelop him in the symbolic tomb from which he will be resurrected. There are built-in limits on what can be done to the Allen’s epic space in terms of design, but Sibyl Wickersheimer’s window drops serve to open up the space to the story’s scope (we even see the white cliffs of Dover). Sarah Pickett’s score captures the period’s romance and adds a moody, percussive edge. Dumas’ tale was so long and convoluted that, despite its popularity, a successful stage adaptation eluded theater artists for years. In 1870 actor Charles Fechter came up with a streamlined version that worked and became the play that Eugene O’Neill’s father, James, bought the rights to and spent most of his life producing and starring in as Dantes. With additional work by William Davies King and Peter Sellars, this is the version now on the Allen stage (while O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” plays in the OSF’s Thomas Theatre). Espinosa’s Dantes starts out a model of guilelessness but takes on a fell quality as he goes about the revenge business. But what price do we pay for revenge? As we penetrate Dantes’ heart, where vengeance gets mixed up with the question of mercy, he begins to transcend the limits we may have thought melodrama imposed on character. Yes, there’s still some mustache-twirling among the villains, but that doesn’t negate Dantes’ arc. The play still feels longish at around three hours, but it’s buoyed by astute direction, Espinosa’s development of Dantes’ moral crisis and some strong performances, including Richard Elmore’s darkly funny Caderousse, Robin Goodrin Nordli’s sickly but indestructible Bonapartist Noirtier and Silva’s relentlessly kind Mercedes. Reach freelance writer Bill Varble at [email protected]. By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Bill Varble for the Mail Tribune Posted Jun. 15, 2015 @ 2:18 pm Updated Jun 15, 2015 at 3:58 PM » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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