Robert Eli and Kate MacCluggage in Bell, Book and Candle at the Long Wharf last month. The co-production shifted to Hartford Stage this week and runs through April 29. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.
Bell, Book and Candle began previews at Hartford Stage last night. The same production, with the same cast and designers, just left the Long Wharf Theatre, where it ran March 7-April 1. Before that, the same director, one of the actors, and the set and lighting designers did Bell, Book and Candle in 2007 at the Old Globe Theatre in San Francisco.
Director Darko Tresnjak gets credit for rediscovering John Van Druten’s sturdy 1950s comedy. He dusted it off, added a hi-fi lounge vibe and ginchy Soho surroundings. He also upped the impact of the show’s central outsider theme suggested by such lines as “Have you been engaging in UnAmerican Activities?” and “I was talking to the cat.”
As with another excavated mid-20th century comedy hit, Boeing Boeing—which was brought back as an arch West End/Broadway nostalgia trip, and is now being warranted tamer and more respectful productions at regional and community theaters— it looks like others have caught on to the charms of Bell, Book and Candle. The Cleveland Play House has scheduled it as part of its 2012-13 season. That production, directed by CPH artistic director Michael Bloom, runs Jan. 11-Feb. 3. On the Play House’s website, Bloom calls the play “a lost classic.”
The Hartford Stage production of Bell, Book and Candle plays through April 29. My posting on the casting of the show is here.
My review of the Long Wharf presentation is here.