‘Waltz’ Through Bitter Romance

Here is a pleasant surprise.

Since its 1965 Broadway run, “Do I Hear a Waltz?” has been a shrug and a footnote in the respective careers of its makers. No one--certainly not composer Richard Rodgers, nor lyricist Stephen Sondheim, nor librettist Arthur Laurents--expressed much affection for this musical about a bittersweet affair between a vacationing American tourist and an Italian shopkeeper in Venice.

Based on Laurents’ 1952 play “The Time of the Cuckoo” (which became the Katharine Hepburn screen vehicle “Summertime”), “Do I Hear a Waltz?” was dissed as “bland ... no style” by Laurents. Sondheim’s assessment: “No real energy--no excitement whatsoever.” Rodgers didn’t like the ashes-in-the-mouth quality that Laurents and Sondheim wanted to begin with.

So, nobody’s favorite. But the revival, which opened Sunday at the Pasadena Playhouse, makes a surprisingly good case for revisiting this property.

Laurents’ protagonist, Leona Samish (Alyson Reed), is an outwardly jolly, inwardly insecure American abroad, single and lonely, the type who calls everybody “Cookie” and is waiting for Something to Happen.

Something does, in Venice, at the pensione run by seen-it-all Signora Fioria (Carol Lawrence, vital and funny). Shopping for trinkets, Leona meets shopkeeper Renato Di Rossi (Anthony Crivello), who sells her a goblet and promises to find her a “mate” for it. Leona is smitten. So is Renato.

Renato is also married, and the question for Leona is simple. To dally or no? In Laurents’ hands, Leona is an embodiment of working-class, Middle American morality, due for a bucket of cold water. But not before she lives a little. The affair commences and then founders, because of various plot developments designed to affront Leona’s sense, sensitivities and sensibility.

The other pensione guests include fledgling painter Eddie Yeager (Benjamin Sprunger), who risks losing his shallow, postcard-perfect wife (Annie Wersching) when he takes Fioria for a tumble in a gondola. In the drunken climax, an embittered Leona rats on Eddie, in addition to singing “Everybody Loves Leona,” cut from the original production.

This was fairly acidic stuff for a Rodgers show. In his pre-Oscar Hammerstein days, the composer had acid aplenty, as well as enormous wit, in the person of Lorenz Hart. But for Rodgers, one go-around with Sondheim was enough, and verse vice-a. Half the time, the music in “Do I Hear a Waltz?” is in denial, relentlessly trying to cheer up the lyrics. Only in the title tune do you sense Rodgers breathing easy and writing effortlessly.

At the Pasadena Playhouse, director David Lee (who did so well with “Light Up the Sky”) has solved a remarkable number of problems. With Reed and Crivello, he has two incisive musical-theater actors, able to finesse the rueful romance just so. The production utilizes Laurents’ prudent revision of his original book, a rewrite first aired two years ago at the George Street Playhouse in New Jersey.

The singing and dancing chorus is gone (they were late additions in ’65 anyway), along with three speaking characters. The settings outside the pensione have been eliminated. You get a bit tired of that courtyard, where most everything now unfolds, but scenic designer Roy Christopher does afford a fine view of the city beyond. Michael Gilliam’s lighting provides first-rate sunsets and reflections of the water under the bridge.

Jack Riley and Elmarie Wendel offer easygoing comic relief as another visiting American couple, the McIlhennys; Tina Gasbarra is spot-on as Giovanna, Fioria’s gal Friday, a woman inhabiting her own sensually whacked time zone. Eddy Martin plays Mauro, the preteen guide for hire; Nino Del Prete does well enough by the role of Vito, Di Rossi’s son. Only the youthful Sprunger--too youthful given the casting of Lawrence--comes up short: To a callow, unconvincing role, he brings only an extra layer of callowness.

That’s it, cast-wise. Ten performers. Notably, this revival, under the musical direction of Steve Orich, boasts a pit band of 16. Even on a minor Rodgers score, it’s terrific to hear strings, plural, and woodwinds, plural. Choreographer Kay Cole isn’t asked to do much, at least until the waltz-y curtain call (Lawrence is on fire !), but “Do I Hear a Waltz?” wasn’t designed to support much kinetic activity.

It is, after all, a story about a hemmed-in woman. Reed makes this character understandable and even interesting, and when she unleashes all that alcohol-soaked invective late in Act 2--nice bit, slamming down the phonograph player lid--it’s a sobering moment. Besides singing gorgeously, Crivello works well with Reed in creating some genuine dramatic feeling.

“Do I Hear a Waltz?” remains what Sondheim said it was: a musical about a woman who, metaphorically, “can’t sing.” The show’s flaws are many, and its charms remain modest. But it’s awfully nice to finally see and hear the thing. With inflating the story of one sadder-but-wiser gal’s Venetian vacation, the Playhouse has given this rarely played “Waltz” a classy and heartfelt spin.

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* “Do I Hear a Waltz?,” Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 5 and 9 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 19. $20-$60. (626) 356-7529. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

Eddy Martin :Mauro

Alyson Reed: Leona Samish

Carol Lawrence: Fioria

Benjamin Sprunger: Eddie Yeager

Annie Wersching: Jennifer Yeager

Jack Riley: Mr. McIlhenny

Elmarie Wendel: Mrs. McIlhenny

Tina Gasbarra: Giovanna

Nino Del Prete: Vito

Anthony Crivello: Renato Di Rossi

Music by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. Book by Arthur Laurents, based on his play “The Time of the Cuckoo.” Directed by David Lee. Musical director Steve Orich. Choreography by Kay Cole. Scenic design by Roy Christopher. Costumes by Randy Gardell. Lighting by Michael Gilliam. Sound by Frederick W. Boot. Production stage manager Jill Gold.