Prelude to a Kiss

Prelude to a Kiss is a play written by Craig Lucas, who also wrote the books for the musicals The Light in the Piazza and Paradise Square. The play premiered in 1988 and received a film adaptation in 1992 starring Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan. The story centers on Peter and Rita, who have fallen in love at first sight. At their wedding reception, an old man who none of them seem to know appears and asks the new bride for a kiss. She obliges and the two switch places in each other’s body. The story that follows explores that nature of love

This is definitely a show more about character and tone than plot. The body swap is obvious from the first moment to the point you wonder why it’s not also obvious to the characters on stage. As a result, the first third drags a little while you are waiting for the characters to catch on to the obvious. Once Peter realizes what is going on and finds his wife, now in the old man’s body, the show definitely comes alive a lot more. When they have to face the possibility that this change may be irreversible, they have to reckon with what that means for their relationship, and on the back of a charming performance by Kingsley Day as the old man, those scenes really succeed. Peter and Rita fell in love at first sight and in an instant, Rita now looks very different. A broader comedy would play the transformation for a cheap laugh, but this show takes the question seriously, and those scenes work very well.

I do have one nit to pick with a style choice. The production uses no props or set pieces beyond a simple bench and table for all its locations, relying on dialogue and acting alone. That is a perfectly valid choice and I’ve seen it work in a lot of variations, but it means the pantomimed actions have to be surgically precise or it’s distracting because you are subconsciously aware the shape or weight of the implied object is off. Unfortunately, I don’t think that was achieved here. Simply omitting the action entirely and implying it only through dialogue would have been more effective and kept the focus on the words and the performance.

That admittedly somewhat pedantic quibble aside, I did enjoy this production. There’s a gentleness to this show that resonated with me. The point of the story is not really whether things will be set right by the end; of course they will be. It’s more a mediation on life and love and loss, and on that score, the show succeeds.

Recommended

Reviewed by Kevin Curran

Presented May 3 – May 26 by Theatre Above the Law at Jarvis Square Theatre, 1439 W. Jarvis, Chicago.

Tickets can be purchased at theatreatl.org.

Additional information about this and other fine area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.