The Rose Tattoo

April/May 2008

"A.R.T. brings welcome fresh air to the Buffalo theatre scene. They're a small but vital company who revive great forgotten American plays--such as their current offering, "Rose Tattoo" by Tennessee Williams. "Rose Tattoo" is a difficult play. It's a comedy imbued with tragedy. It's realism tinged with the rose-colored, dreamlike poetry of Tennessee Williams. There's a large cast and several short scenes. Director Chris Standart and his cast tackle this challenges with panache. Perhaps there were a few too many silent blackouts in Act 1 to maintain the momentum, but overall, the evening skillfully builds to its poignant conclusion. The ensemble express the volatile nature of their characters without descending into the easy temptation of melodramatic histrionics. They also balance the tragedy with comedy. Marie Costa smoulders as Serafina delle Rose, the anguished widowed heroine who discovers life might just be worth living after all. Costa paces the emotion of her performance with great skill, modulating her despair until it explodes into anger. Costa also captures Serafina practical humor. As Alvaro, Serfafina's unlikely love interest, Michael Votta combines awkward grace with poignant longing. Contance Lukasik shines in the "ingenue" role of Serafina's daughter, Rosa, giving her character a sweetness tinged with sensuality. John Kaczorowski is charmingly abashed as her sailor auitor. Alaina Renee Miller is the epitome of Texan sass and sensuality in her role of the wanton Estelle, while Mary Loftus and Jeanne Cairns provide giddy comic relief as Bessie and Flora. Joy Scime's earthy Assunta gives the play its moral center, and Kerrykate Abel, Diane Serra, and Diane Cammarata supply wonderful chorus work as the group of Italian women who are Serafina's nosey neighbors. Peter Jaskowiak makes an earnest, endearing Father De Leo, while Kelly Ferguson-Moore makes a chillingly warm Miss Yorke. Carol J. Alaimo succeeds admirably as the crazy Strega. The set design ably evokes a crowded Italianate interior and a lush Louisiana garden. This production offers Buffalo audiences a welcome chance to see a strong production of a neglected gem."

--Heather

Thanks so very much for a terrific evening of theatre. Rose Tattoo is a difficult, messy, but deeply satisfying and life-affirming play, unique in T Williams' oeuvre, and you are to be congratulated for undertaking it at all, much less so successfully. Special kudos to Chris Standart for shaping and pacing it so well; the feel for Sicilian culture rang true, and the actors functioned as a living ensemble. I was not alone in thinking this the best work Michael Votta has done here; Serafina and her daughter were exotic yet completely believable; and what a supporting cast! Thank you! Keep up the good work.

--Tim