Lunastage - 2006 - 2007 Season - The Kreutzer Sonata

Marital Discord is theme of ‘Sonata’

By Peter Filichia STAR-LEDGER STAFF

It’s Beethoven’s “The Kreutzer Sonata” as you’ve never heard it – no matter how many classical concerts you’ve attended.

At Luna Stage Company in Montclair, violinist Gil Morgenstern and pianist Priya Mayadas do a stirring rendition of the 1802 work more commonly know as Sonata No. 9 in A Major (Op.47) for piano and violin.

But wait – why would a legitimate theatre be offering a classical concert?

Luna Stage isn’t. Beethoven isn’t even the main event here, for Morgenstern and Mayadas perform only the first of the three movements of the 40-minute piece. It’s what Larry and Margaret Pine wrote in 2004 and added to the mini-concert that makes this a riveting theatrical experience.

Their “The Kreutzer Sonata,” directed by Margaret Pine, is based on Leo Tolstoy’s 1890 novella of the same name. Pozdnyshev, a Russian played by Larry Pine, sits in a chair and chats with us. But he’s no Alistair Cooke. There’s no charm in the way he reminisces about the life he had with his wife.

“Everyone thinks that his own miserable marriage is unique,” he says with a numbness on his face that reads, “How did it all come to this?”

Resembling Jason Robards, Jr. in his prime, Pine looks thoroughly disgusted with himself as he takes theatergoers through his youth. That’s when he was “tormented by the nakedness of women,” then lived the “debauched life that was expected of a single man.”

By the time an audience would think him incapable of even mustering a smile, he manages one when he remembers falling for the fetching pianist who would become his wife. It becomes a smirk when he takes us through “the highly touted honeymoon,” which is quickly followed by the disillusionment, quarrels, drag-out fights, and “the weak excuses we found for making up.” Perhaps worse was the smallest of small talk that they were forced to make morning, noon and night.

“We were like two convicts chained together,” he says, eyes half-closed from pain and insomnia. Just when he’s convinced theatergoers that he’d love to be rid of her, a violinist enters her life; they’re suddenly playing duets, and he’s as jealous as Othello.

That’s when Beethoven comes in. The sonata is a pleasure to hear, albeit not for Pozdnyshev. The two musicians seem immersed in their work rather than each other, suggesting that the affair is only in Pozdnyshev’s imagination. The forceful way that Mayadas pounds on the foot pedal could also hint that Mrs. Pozdnyshev has found a different way of releasing sexual tension.

While Morgenstern and Mayadas play their delightful divertissement, Pine sits impassively in the chair. Though the play is effective, it would profit from having Pine re-create the emotions he felt that night, when he suspected them of having an affair. Let him get out of that chair and glare. The impassive face doesn’t show what he suspected at the time.

After the concert, Pozdnyshev dourly tells of the aftermath. Time has allowed him a valuable perspective, and the audience a frank look at marriage.

This is not a play for engaged couples. Or is it? What’s most interesting, though, is that the Pines have been married nearly 36 years. Though this is their first theatrical collaboration, they’ve certainly found a more productive way of spending their time that Mr. and Mrs. Pozdnyshev.

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