THEATER REVIEW : ‘THE TIME OF THE CUCKOO’ A JOURNEY INTO THE PAST

In “The Time of the Cuckoo,” everything moves more slowly, elegantly and meticulously than we’ve adapted to in 1986.

The romantic comedy by Arthur Laurents unfolds on a beautiful, sunlit piazza in Venice in the memorable year of 1951, when spinsters journeyed abroad to have affairs--or perhaps just to dream about them--and men had to charm their prey with expensive baubles and sweeping kisses under the moonlight. And when people danced, they held a martini glass in one hand.

Don’t be discouraged by the fact that American Theatre Heritage is producing this nostalgic journey in the all American barn-like atmosphere of The Theatre in Old Town. Designer Lee Fitzpatrick has created a real set for “The Time of the Cuckoo,” a two-level piazza with damp-looking, greenish mildew creeping across the salmon-colored stone and enough pillared nooks and crannies to complete the illusion when J.A. Roth’s late-afternoon “sun” hits the pseudo piazza.

The only thing missing is a gondolier singing somewhere beyond the stone pensione where our American tourists have gathered.

But wait! (Remember, it’s 1951--we have lots of tiiiiime.) Yes, director Nat Modica has thought of everything. Off in the distance ring the vocal melodies of Venice in summertime. We can almost hear the water splashing. It’s the time when the cuckoo bird heralds the season of love throughout Europe (it says so in the program).

Ah, such a sweet time, a wonderful time in the history of American theater and cinema. This is the time American Theatre Heritage has committed itself to bringing to our local stages. Artistically, the players seem to know what they are doing.

Modica has assembled a uniformly talented cast, from D’Ann Paton as the voluptuous Italian widow who runs the pensione and knows that life means making the best of things--finding romance in the back seat of a gondola, if necessary--to Jane Wenman as the love-starved American spinster Leona Samish, whose childishly unrealistic personality is, in Wenman’s interpretation, somewhere between Lucille Ball and Katharine Hepburn (who played the role in a 1955 film version, released as “Summertime.”)

Wenman is the star of this old-fashioned story, and she does her job well. Nicholas Genovese backs her up in a properly stilted ‘50s style as her Venetian lover, who turns out to be something less than the dream our aging heroine has held out for.

Barcy Stricker and Rick Bollinger hit the decades-passed target perfectly as the young newlyweds whose little arguments are threatening their ideal vacation and causing much moral temptation among the locals (no adulterous secrets will be revealed here).

Julie Anne Simeone is a treasure as the love-stricken domestic, Giovanna, who sings better than she holds her liquor. Simeone plays one of the best hangovers ever brought to the stage with no more than a single, well-executed look.

Trina Kaplan and Jake Schmidt bring an extra measure of talent to their roles as an older, middle-American conservative couple, while Doug Ingold and Rametin Mouahhed give strength to a pair of walk-on parts.

The pains Modica has taken to cast the play pay off. Even if one is not convinced that this is a play worthy of restoration, not swayed by carefully posed climactic scenes with music swelling underneath, one can’t help being taken in by the all-round good acting brought out by an obviously dedicated and knowledgeable director.

It’s difficult to measure how audiences who remember this time period will respond to “The Time of the Cuckoo.” Those gathered at a recent matinee seemed to appreciate Laurents’ humor and style. For one born a little later in the decade, watching a good cast re-create the feeling of the period is definitely more fun than watching old movies, but the uncautious should be advised against the play’s creeping sexism.

“The Time of the Cuckoo” suffers from stereotypes people have been working for three decades to overcome. The women’s parts are written as if they have nothing on their minds but men, and the infamous double standard of years past is emblazoned throughout the script. Both sexes are portrayed as more simple than real people, so their problems are easier to solve.

To his credit, Laurents doesn’t give in to a completely happy ending. He strikes a thematic blow against the American obsession with money and against the evils of drink, but he does so with a heavier moralistic tone than we’ve grown accustomed to. Is it wise to keep such glossy, romanticized entertainments alive beyond their time? Some of us like to think the world has outgrown them. Others--the American Theatre Heritage, for instance--would argue that we’ve lost our sense of charm and need to preserve this genre.

What “The Time of the Cuckoo” does offer, without question, is a long, leisurely look at a company that has mastered this mid-century ambiance, having fun with characters that must be very difficult to play in 1986.

“THE TIME OF THE CUCKOO” By Arthur Laurents. Directed by Nat Modica. Set design by Lee Fitzpatrick. Lighting design by J.A. Roth. With Jane Wenman, Julie Anne Simeone, D’Ann Paton, Barcy Stricker, Rick Bollinger, Trina Kaplan, Jake Schmidt, Nicholas Genovese, Doug Ingold, Rametin Mouahhed. Thursday through Sunday at 8 p.m., matinees at 2 p.m. Sundays, at The Theatre in Old Town, 4040 Twiggs St., San Diego. Produced by American Theatre Heritage.