Lunastage - 2006 - 2007 Season - The Kreutzer Sonata

Quality and artistry transform Tolstoy’s novella into compelling theater

Thursday, October 12, 2006
By THOM MOLYNEAUX for The Montclair Times

As you enter Luna Stage for the start of its 13th season, the first thing you notice is the tasteful simplicity of the set. The intimate space contains a grand piano, a music stand and a period chair. Some lamps overhead, a parquet floor and artful lighting complete a portrait of spare elegance. Before the play starts, you sense the quality and the artistry that will transform Leo Tolstoy’s 1890 Russian novella into an evening of compelling theater for an audience in 2006 in Montclair.

“The Kreutzer Sonata” is the story of a man telling a story very much in the vein of Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess.” Browning’s memorable and subtly macabre poem tells the story of a beautiful woman, marriage, jealousy and art that leads to a horrific end, and in “The Kreutzer Sonata,” it’s the story of a beautiful woman, marriage, jealousy and music that ends in a similar tragedy.

Pozdnyshev (Larry Pine), a successful businessman sitting in a train compartment, tells a story to a stranger during a long railroad journey. (In Margaret and Larry Pine’s adaptation, the audience becomes the stranger.) The story Pozdnyshev tells is a recounting of his marriage, his beautiful wife, his five children, and an occasional excursion into personal, social and moral philosophy. The key element in Pozdnyshev’s story is a particular evening at his home that featured a classical duet of Beethoven’s “Kreutzer Sonata,” with a local professional violinist and his wife, as the pianist. That evening inexorably leads to his wife suffering the same fate as “my last Duchess painted on the wall/ Looking as if she were alive…”

Pozdnyshev begins his tale with a cynical view of the hypocrisy of marriage, his and others. A ”pigsty,” he calls it. He considers himself, and most men, debauchers, and women, sex objects, who recognize that they are not equals, and choose to be dominated as sex objects. Yet, this misogynist falls into the trap of believing the fantasy of the perfect women. He acts on the male’s ingrained belief that beauty equals goodness and marries a woman who he feels meets his high standards. Inevitably, his wife proves to be less than ideal and by the third day of their honeymoon they have their first quarrel.

The pattern is set. They will fight over almost anything, a tablecloth, the roast beef, whether a particular dog won first place or only “special mention” in a dog show. The arguments will escalate from sharp words to ear-splitting screams, from upset to anger to hate. But a truce can be declared through the passion of love-making. Peace will prevail for a while, but then domestic warfare breaks out once again and again and again.

And passion provides a respite, again and again. In this way the marriage survives until the fifth child and the on-set of health problems for infant and wife. She’s advised to find a wet nurse for the baby and warned not to have any more children.

As his wife becomes “untouchable,” she also becomes more desirable, more attractive to other men, and Pozdnyshev becomes more jealous. They move into town where one can become “so busy, you don’t know you’re dead.” Their bustling social life in town culminates in the night Pozdnyshev invites a few friends in to hear his wife as part of the classical duet that plays Beethoven’s “Kreutzer Sonata.”

The theatrical centerpiece of this production of “The Kreutzer Sonata” is the actual performance of the Beethoven piece by the beautiful/Indian-born pianist Priya Mayadas and acclaimed violinist Gil Morgenstern. Interestingly, we accept them as the characters — the wife, the possible lover — not as two talented professionals coming in from the outside to do a musical interlude; they become an integral part of the story. Pozdnyshev speaks of his belief in the power of music. In the context of the story, the intimacy of the space, and brilliance of these special musicians as they play this intricate, dynamic duet, you may find yourself, as I did, listening with an intensity and focus and expe-riencing the music more fully than I ever have in other, more conventional, circumstances.

The stage, screen, and television veteran Larry Pine gives a truthful, low-key performance as Pozdnyshev that is perfectly in tune with the setting and the material. There’s no histrionics, no attempt to “busy” up the acting or the staging. His director, Margaret Pine, knows that if a man is sitting in a chair telling a story, it’s not necessary to find ways to get him up out of that chair and moving around the stage in order to keep us interested. He can hold our attention with the story, his personal connection to it, and his need to tell it.

The director has also designed a sound track that becomes a vital element in creating “place,” the train and train ride. It’s a presence of sound, that almost becomes another character while serving as a musical subconscious for the storyteller.

“The Kreutzer Sonata” is an elegant theatrical and musical telling of Tolstoy’s tale. Fred Kinney, the set designer, and Jill Nagle, lighting designer, are vital members of the creative team that makes “The Kreutzer Sonata” an elegant theatrical and musical telling of Tolstoy’s tale.

“The Kreutzer Sonata” runs through Oct. 29 at Luna Stage, 695 Bloomfield Ave. Ticket prices range from $20 to $30. For reservations, call 973-744-3309, or visit online at www.lunastage.org.

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