If you’ve been looking for a light-hearted evening at the theatre, look no further than the RPI Playhouse. The Players’ current production of Kismet, their 238th show—while not without its kinks—will provide just that.
No, you won’t find yourself humming bars ripped from musical numbers, spending hours talking about the play’s hidden meaning with your significant other, or wondering “what fate is mine,” but it still is a nice way to spend an evening.
What the play does have, however, are harem girls, three princesses who dance around with swords, and some artful bouts of luck that move the plot along.
Kismet’s plot runs along the typical story of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl (and vice versa)—where boy is in fact the caliph of Baghdad who has many women seeking to be his wife of wives. Add in a wazir of the police, a loan, a little superstition, a few very quick-witted characters, kismet (fate), and you have the makings of a good play. Of course you can’t forget a “happily ever after” ending.
So the plot is a little cliché—that’s not the point. A wonderful plot could fall flat with terrible actors, and terrible plots can be redeemed by talented actors. Fortunately, the latter was the case with Kismet.
Although the Kismet actors didn’t always have dead-on timing and some scenes of the play seemed a bit jumbled, the cast put on a good show.
As I watched, I definitely noticed that two characters stood out above the others. Sandra Bauchiero put in a magnificent performance as Marsinah. She has an absolutely amazing voice and lends quite a bit of wit to her character. However, in the wit department, Andrew Sullivan as The Poet (and Marsinah’s father) definitely outshines her, and he seems to wear the character as comfortably as the clothes he wears everyday. His singing is also worth noting, though Bauchiero definitely surpasses him in that category.
That is not to say that the pair completely stole the show—although they came close. The Wazir of Police, played by Peter Naccarato III, and Lalume, played by Jennifer Macarelli, both turned in pretty good performances. Both lent their characters very devious airs that played out very well. Jonathan Cone as Omar Khayyam also did a great job—he plays the level-headed advisor very well. Also of note are the performances of The Caliph, played by Ben Cushing, and Jawan, played by Brian Baum.
But I couldn’t ignore the ensemble either. In some scenes people seemed to clutter the stage, but there were others where the ensemble definitely shone. The ensemble featured some well-timed one-liners, a number of well-coordinated dance numbers, and a few humorous actions in the background of key scenes.
The fixed set is fairly simple, but it definitely captures the feel of Baghdad—where the action takes place. The lighting and small pieces of moveable scenery are definitely key to setting changes. The use of stage space was definitely inventive and deserves mentioning.
Overall, the play was good and definitely worth seeing. Although I won’t promise that you will see the most moving play you’ve ever seen, or that you’ll be rolling in the aisles laughing, you won’t be in agony either—you will definitely be entertained. The light-hearted nature of the play will do you some good if nothing else.
The Players will be performing Kismet on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8 pm.
