Jennifer Chung Klam

San Diego Arts

'Prelude to a Kiss' at New Village Arts Theatre

A Schubert tune with a Gershwin touch
By Jennifer Chung Klam
Posted on Apr 23 2008
Last updated Apr 23 2008

In the late 1980s, a wave of identity-swap movies hit the theaters, perhaps most memorably with the Tom Hanks comedy, “Big.” The fantastical conceit of these films – where two disparate souls (parent/child, man/woman) switch bodies – provides an easy setup for comedy.

In the case of the 1988 play-turned-movie “Prelude to a Kiss,” there is a more serious side, though it’s hidden under a mound of froth. Finding the right balance between the sweetness, humor and underlying sorrow is the true magic of playwright Craig Lucas’ romantic comedy, and New Village Art’s current production succeeds with charm and grace.

Rita is a insomniac communist bartender full of quirks (what insomniac communist bartender isn’t?) who can’t imagine bringing kids into such a decadent and cruel world. Peter is a shy, sensitive type who ran away from home at 16 -- to Amsterdam. They meet one night at a cocktail party and it’s love at first awkward silence.

Kristianne Kurner and Joshua Everett Johnson are believably besotted, and appealing enough that you might find yourself reminiscing about your own days of butterfly-induced chest pangs. Their expeditious courtship is full of the cosmic coincidences of kismet – a shared love of Molson and spaetzles, what are the odds?! – and inevitably, the pair is soon getting married.

But when an old man, a stranger, shows up at the wedding and plants a kiss on the bride, the lights go wonky and bam – soul transference!

Kurner handles the shift in personas with sure-footed subtlety, without overworking the gender signals. She is, after all, playing a man inside the body of a woman trying to pass as that woman. But in the midst of their honeymoon, it doesn’t take long for Peter to figure something is very different about his new bride.

Not to worry, he’s told – no one ever ends up with the person they thought they married. But Rita didn’t get a fat ass, she’s defending capitalism, teetotaling and talking about having kids!

Charlie Riendeau plays the Rita-ized old man with understated femininity, from the way he sits on the bed and holds hands with himself, to the way he tentatively reaches out to touch his (her?) would-be husband.

The entire ensemble does fine work, notably Jack Missett and Kathryn Herbruck as Rita’s well-meaninged but somewhat clueless parents. Tim Parker is likeable as Peter’s best man.

Esther Emery’s whimsical, abstract set design, comprised of metal curlicues evoking a garden, perfectly matches the fairy-tale tone. Delicia Turner Sonnenberg directs the play with a light comedic touch, keeping an eye on the more weighty matters beneath the surface.

Lucas, a gay playwright, wrote “Prelude” at a time when the AIDS epidemic was ravaging the gay community. The work was typically seen as a metaphor for the disease that transformed partners overnight into unrecognizable old men.

These days, the link to gay culture and AIDS seems minimal. However, the play does explore the very real possibility of finding your loved one suddenly struck with a life-changing illness or involved in a debilitating accident – or injured in military combat.

Lucas takes the question of commitment to a whole new level. Vows of “for better and for worse” and “in sickness and in health” may be cliché, but they do suggest the spiritual bond between lifelong partners affirmed in his play.

Mostly, though, NVA’s “Prelude” is an enchanting introduction to the strength of true love, through the rosy-reflective lens of a fairy tale all grown up.

About the author: Jennifer Chung Klam is an editor at The Daily Transcript and a freelance arts and culture writer.
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