British ‘Brief Encounter’ reopens on Broadway

Noel Coward's classic romance gets a quirky post-modern treatment

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

BROADWAY REVIEW

Let's be brief about "Brief Encounter," which reopened Tuesday as a Broadway attraction at Studio 54 under the auspices of Roundabout Theatre Company.

When this British import first arrived for a visit at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn last season, many among my colleagues raved favorably about KneeHigh Theatre's extremely quirky mash-up of Noel Coward's 1936 one-act "Still Life" and his celebrated 1945 "Brief Encounter" screenplay drawn from it.

I didn't care for the show then and I still don't upon a second viewing. Watch most of the other critics love it again. So perhaps you will enjoy it, too.

Coward's bittersweet romance regards Laura and Alec, nice people who meet accidentally in a suburban train station and reluctantly fall in love although they are married contentedly to others. Coward wrote this story with understated, often humorous dialogue within mundane circumstances meant to contrast against the deep, conflicted passions developing between the reticent central characters.

In her post-modern adaptation, director Emma Rice wildly illustrates these emotions. For one example among many instances, when the couple enjoy a swank if clandestine luncheon, Rice soon sends them swinging upon the chandeliers. Rice also intersperses the action with broad renditions of Coward songs such as "Mad About the Boy." This fanciful concept makes much use of projections for its moody sepia atmosphere.

For all of Rice's clever manipulation of whimsical stagecraft and the undeniable excellence of the show's nine actors — Hannah Yelland and Tristan Sturrock are often touching as Laura and Alec — the production seems completely unnecessary to me.

"Still Life" is a fine play. "Brief Encounter" is a classic film. Personally, I don't need to see the two texts conflated into some 90-minute seriocomic extravaganza that undermines and mocks the subtle essence of Coward's work while presumably paying homage to it.

"Brief Encounter" continues through Dec. 5 at Studio 54, 254 W. 54th St., New York. Call (212) 719-1300 or visit www.roundabouttheatre.org.