Arrive Magazine - July/August, 2010

REVUE
AND BEYOND

supposed to make a guest appearance as Otel- lo on the stage of a Cleveland opera company, gets waylaid with an overdose of phenobarbital and Chianti because of a misunderstanding. ;e theater manager, Saunders (Shalhoub, you know him from Monk) thinks Merelli is dead, and so persuades the aspiring tenor Max (played by Justin Bartha of ;e Hangover) to dress up as Otello and go on in his place. Meanwhile, Merelli wakes up from his stupor, puts on his costume and heads to the theater. More misunderstandings, double entendres and door-slammings ensue. It’s hard to find a good farce these days, and that’s what Klaitz says he thinks is behind the success of Tenor. People need an escape. “It’s been a little tough lately, and there’s a lot to be said for a show that’s pure fun like this,” he says. “Sometimes, when the house is really full, it’s bordering on scary how much these people are laughing.” In fact, some evenings, when a member of the cast does something outrageously absurd or crass, Klaitz says he’s heard audience members react, muttering, under their breaths, phrases that aren’t appropriate for a family magazine like this one. “;at warms the very bottom of my heart,” he laughs. And in the end, that’s what all the door slamming and hamster wheels are about. Warming hearts. “;is show—and farce in general—is light as air,” says Klaitz. “It’s something you don’t have to think about too hard. You get to just go with it and laugh like crazy. For an audience, it’s pure joy that’s uncomplicated—good, old-fashioned laughing, just for the sake of laughing.” And there’s no misunderstanding that.