Pulitzer- Prize winning playwright John Patrick Shanley’s Sailor’s Song is making it’s West Coast premiere at The New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad through April 29th. I want to say “run, don’t walk to see this beautifully captivating evening of theatre.” I want to say leave your imaginations open to whatever the creative team of this young theatre company puts before you because I know you will leave with a feeling
as light hearted and thoughtful as I, when the magic ends. In fact I still feel the magic.

Shanley’s Sailor pulls you right into its spell from the beginning. The
play opens on a broad set (Nick Fouch) at Jazzercise, Inc in Carlsbad (their temporary home). On one end is the siding of a southern Atlantic (the gals sounded more like Maine to me) coastal town beach cottage
with a porch, screen door, and a cot resting under  On the other side of the stage in a raised platform are two or three cabaret tables with small lamps on them, chairs on either side and between the two is a  rowboat anchored to a dock.

Rich, (Manny Fernandes) a seaman who had aspirations beyond being a crane operator on a cargo ship, never made captain. Now he isn’t sure about anything in his life and comes to this seacoast town to be with his uncle John (Doren Elias) whose wife is dying of cancer. John is a crusty old salt who sees life as it is while Rich sees life through music, waltzing and fantasizing, or as some might say :through rose colored glasses."
Rich is lonesome. He can’t commit to relationships. His feelings are buried so deep from years of suppressing them that even if he wanted to emote he wouldn’t know how. He is, however, hopeful that one day he will find himself or settle down at something he really likes. He does, though, know a good time.

The fun begins when Rich wanders into a bar that first night, and sitting at a table are two very pretty young women. One of them (Amanda Sutton), Joan, is writing continuously on a yellow pad
while surveying the comings and goings of  the evening. The other (Amanda Morrow) is Lucy who introduces herself to Rich at first glance and  is smitten with him from the get go. 

Eventually we learn from Lucy that the girls are sisters and Joan 
is ‘an automatic writer’. In other words, she’s a psychic who
channels, through writing, the thoughts of a Punjabi  businessman who died several years earlier. It is a hoot watching her predict things at a
flash and really believe them. Lucy, the more down to earth sister,
works at the local bank. Both women plant strong ‘open mouthed’
kisses on Rich within minutes of meeting and we’re off to the races.

Rich can’t decide which of the girls he wants and rather than make a choice, waltzes them both around the stage before heading for his
uncle’s house. This sets the mood for what follows and when Rich reaches the house and tells his uncle of his experiences, John tells him
 to pick one or lose both. He’s a man of decision and frankly, envies his nephew's dilemma. The contrast in the two men almost makes one think that there must be some mistake; they couldn’t be related.

After they settle in with a drink or two, their talk centers around
John and his dying wife, Carla (Robin Christ) and how John is
coping. John shares how he met Carla and why he really didn’t have
to marry her (for reasons I’ll save for you to learn when you see the show.) But he stayed with her over the years and now he’s trying to understand her death. Rich is stunned by John’s openness and can’t understand how he can speak so freely about a very personal matter,
let alone allow his feelings to be worn on his sleeve. He concludes that John is certainly different from what he expected.

In the meantime, while John  faces life squarely in the eye, Rich
avoids all that by taking the girls out on a boating outing the next
day. Again, the magic fills the stage with romance, music, laughs and dance. It is one exquisite moment .

Shanley’s script calls for dancing and music and while the play seesaws between frankness and fantasy, life and death, mortality and spirituality, romance and sex, real things are happening. Back at the cottage, Carla is nearly close to death and when she awakens from  her coma and she
and John share one last dance together, it’s heartbreakingly beautiful. There isn’t a dry eye in the house. And, in her after death ballet with him, everyone just about melts into a puddle of water. In Shanley’s words, “Sailor’s Song  is about the almost unbearable beauty of choosing to love in the face of death. Love is the most essential act of courage.”

Under the deft direction of Kristianne Kurner with choreography by Robin Christ and Kathy Meyer, Adam Brick’s sound design, (“Blue Danube Waltz”, “Try A Little Tenderness”), and Justin Hall’s lighting design, the cast is able to put their best feet forward. Manny Fernandes, whom I’ve seen dozens of times, is absolutely amazing and light footed
as he waltzes the girls around the new dance floor at the Jazzercise complex. His comfort and ease, twinkle and steadfastness, lend tremendous credibility to his character. While his physical presence says strength, he convinces that his character’s mind vacillates when it comes to exploring his emotions.

The women, both Amandas are exceptionally well suited to their oddball personalities. With straight faced resolution, each of them in their own way go after Rich with zest and verve. They are almost like bookends trying to outdo each other.  It’s not only the acting, however, that make this production so colorful. The dancing of all four, (Fernandes,
Morrow, Sitton, Elias and particularly Christ) is simply striking. And while they are just the fantasy in Rich’s world, it’s John who keeps pointing to the reality door. Doren Elias is at his best with his gruff, raspy voice and raw emotions pushing John to the edge while filling in the blanks of  his nephew’s emptiness and his wife’s impending  death.
He is, in fact, the center around which this play revolves.

Shanley’s Doubt and Moonstruck have made believers of many. His Sailor’s Song will as well.  New Village Arts Theatre is currently renting space at Jazzercise, Inc. at 2787 State Street in Carlsbad. They can be reached at www.newvillagearts.org  or by phone at: (760) 433-3245.
 

The night I attended the show, it was announced by Executive Director Kristainne Kurner that the very next day, Monday April 9, construction
of their new performance space in Carlsbad Village would begin. The new space is scheduled to open June 15 with Sam Shepard’s True West. I’ll keep you posted.

See you at the theatre.