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A Second Chance – Signature Theatre

Jordan Wright
November 28, 2011
Special to The Alexandria Times
 

Dan (Brian Sutherland) and Jenna (Diane Sutherland) both admiring a Rothko painting at the Museum of Modern Art in "A Second Chance". At Virginia’s Signature Theatre through December 11, 2011. www.signature-theatre.org. Photo: Christopher Mueller.

Dan (Brian Sutherland) and Jenna (Diane Sutherland) both admiring a Rothko painting at the Museum of Modern Art in "A Second Chance". At Virginia’s Signature Theatre through December 11, 2011. www.signature-theatre.org. Photo: Christopher Mueller.

Not only is this delicious show a world premiere, but it also marks the auspicious debut of a new talent, Ted Shen, a businessman and arts patron that might better qualify for full retirement.  That he is celebrating the opening of his first show as writer, composer and lyricist, is rather astounding, unless you notice that his bio reveals he is a Taiwanese financier educated at the posh
Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University and foundation president and board member for both Yale University and the Art Commission of the City of New York.  And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Shen’s foundation has also provided funding support for major productions by Stephen Sondheim, who happens to be Mr. Shen’s musical theatre hero.  But whatever his curriculum vitae or his tony connections his breakthrough musical, A Second Chance, can more than stand on its own two legs.

Billed as a lyrical duet the musical is a modern love affair as much for its characters as its audience. Two top-drawer Broadway stars, Brian and Diane Sutherland, sing rather than speak their parts.  Both have the most exquisitely controlled, pitch perfect voices that gently express the emotional dynamics of a budding relationship.  Jenna, coming off a divorce, gives voice to her demons in “Damaged Goods”.  She is broken and unsure of their new love, especially since Dan is a recent widower and photos of his late wife fill his apartment.  Dan is still communicating telepathically with his dearly departed, seeking approval to pursue his new life and love of Jenna.  In an effort to break with the past he sings, “Tell Me When.”

A simple stage set with clear plexiglass chairs and tables allow the audience to mesh with each scene change while following the
progression of the mid-life couple’s personal evolution.  Projected black and white photos of New York’s Central Park, his brownstone and her therapist’s office, afford a simple sense of place.  And that’s enough because it’s all about the music here – lush atmospheric songs by an astonishing songwriter whose elegant stylings borrow from the Sondheim tradition with shades of Judy
Collins and The Fantasticks.   Top notch musicians capture the mood for a New York evening as familiar as a martini served straight up while basking at The Oak Room at The Plaza or listening to Bobby Short at the Café Carlyle.

Enchantingly sophisticated and emotionally aware.

Through December 11th at Signature Theatre – 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, VA in the Shirlington neighborhood. For tickets and information call 703 820-9771 or visit www.signature-theatre.org.

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