Bristol Riverside Theatre’s 2017–18 season continues with Ron Harwood’s ‘Quartet,’ a comedic play about retired opera singers
By Samantha Bambino
The Times
In an ever-changing world of uncertainty, there’s one cold, hard truth that remains constant. Everyone gets older. Though most of us won’t be as spritely as Betty White at the ripe age of 95, we can certainly learn to embrace those golden years, which is the theme of Bristol Riverside Theatre’s new mainstage production, Quartet. This comedic tale follows four retired opera singers as they learn to age gracefully and lay old ghosts to rest, all while holding tight to the spirit of their younger selves.
Quartet, by Ron Harwood, takes place in a lavish retirement home for retired opera singers whose focus centers around an annual concert to celebrate Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday. Though the cast is an intimate size of four, it consists of industry veterans with an undeniable chemistry.
Keith Baker, who has steered BRT’s artistic vision for more than 25 years, plays the woman-obsessed Wilfred (Wilf) Bond; Joy Franz, who was seen as Grandma in BRT’s Lost in Yonkers and Desiree in A Little Night Music, stars as the world-renowned Jean Horton; Laurel Merlington, who has appeared Off-Broadway as Melanie in The Chinese Viewing Pavilion, shines as the forgetful Cecily Robson; and Nick Ullett, who created the role of Gerald in the Broadway musical Me and My Girl and has been seen on shows like The Big Bang Theory, plays the intellectual Reginald (Reggie) Paget.
As the first act begins, audiences are brought into a typical morning at the retirement home as Wilf, Cecily and Reggie eat breakfast by the scenic garden. Immediately, Wilf and Cecily are recognizable as the comedic relief of the play. As Cecily enjoys music through her Walkman headphones, oblivious to the world around her, Wilf makes crude yet humorous comments to this woman he’s been attracted to for years. Meanwhile, Reggie comes off as more reserved, quietly reminiscing while writing his memoir.
But this monotonous day takes a turn when Cecily learns there’s to be a new arrival at the retirement home.
“I saw her, I saw her!” she yells to Wilf and Reggie.
Due to her short-term memory loss, which involves thinking everyone just returned from Karachi, it takes a few minutes for Cecily to remember whom exactly she saw. But when she does, Reggie’s comfortable world comes crashing down. The new resident is his ex-wife Jean Horton, who unexplainably walked out on him after a brief marriage.
“If it’s any consolation, she’s aged terribly,” Cecily says to make him feel better.
But when Jean arrives, she is sporting perfectly styled blonde hair and an expensive gown, a stark contrast to Cecily’s floral dress and orthopedic sandals. It’s clear she thinks she’s above the others, saying how she had no choice in the matter of living at the home. Though they try to make her see the good in her new surroundings (for Cecily, it’s the attractive, young gardener), Jean wants no parts of it.
“You’ll feel terribly out of place here,” Wilf says. “We’re all decrepit.”
For much of the first act, just as Reggie expected of his ex-wife, Jean boasts about her riches, fame and career, and is downright insulting to her new housemates, even pointing out Cecily’s weight. But as the show progresses, her age begins to show. After Reggie calls her out for repeating the story of “entering the box as George’s guest” for the fifth time, she reveals the ugly truth — her last late husband wasn’t as rich as he led her to believe, so she’s living at the home on charity with a bad hip to boot.
“Why do we have to get old?” she asks him.
A rekindled friendship between Reggie and Jean starts to look hopeful, until the topic of the annual concert is brought up. The show’s director wants the four to perform the Rigoletto Quartet, but Jean puts her foot down, pointing out that as a whole, their average age is 198.
“This is not a retirement home, it’s a madhouse,” she says. “We’d sound like four cats mating.”
It appears as though Jean is reverting back to her old ways, but by the second act, the audience learns that 30 years ago, she suddenly lost her singing abilities. Franz shows a huge amount of heart and emotion in this scene, allowing audiences to feel sympathy for a character they’ve loathed for the past hour.
“My gift deserted me,” she explains.
Though she’s afraid this one performance will undo her entire career, Reggie has some words of encouragement.
“We’re not alive much longer. Let’s make the most of it,” he says. “To hell with the people we once were.”
And so, the show goes on with the four lip syncing the vocals so no one is any the wiser about Jean’s vocal troubles. They were able put their differences aside and work toward the common goal of making Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday celebration the best yet.
As Wilf so eloquently summarizes it, “Art is meaningless if it does not make you feel.”
Overall, Quartet is a charming look at the trials of growing older. Despite the character’s greying hair and hip troubles, their humor, sarcasm and passions remained very much intact. As Wilf voiced his complaints about needing a woman companion and Reggie fretted over not receiving marmalade at breakfast, audiences laughed and nodded knowingly.
Quartet performances will run Tuesday through Sunday until Nov. 19. Tickets start at $33 with discounts for students, groups and military personnel.
Tickets are available by visiting brtstage.org or calling the box office at 215–785–0100. Bristol Riverside Theatre is located at 120 Radcliffe St. in Bristol. ••
Samantha Bambino can be reached at [email protected]
