Lost in Translation

Lend Me a Tenor is a Tony-winning, screwball comedy from the '80s that incorporates tranquilizer and blackface. Let me explain. Legendary tenor Tito Morelli is slated to play Othello in Cleveland. Before the show, his wife mistakes an autograph-seeking fan in the makeup room's closet for Morelli's lover and leaves...

By Penn Bullock

October 13, 2011

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Lend Me a Tenor is a Tony-winning, screwball comedy from the '80s that incorporates tranquilizer and blackface. Let me explain. Legendary tenor Tito Morelli is slated to play Othello in Cleveland. Before the show, his wife mistakes an autograph-seeking fan in the makeup room's closet for Morelli's lover and leaves him with a letter announcing divorce. Morelli breaks down and accidentally takes too many tranquilizers.

The show's general manager is determined to see the show go on, so he smatters blackface on his assistant and throws him on stage. (The blackface is necessary because Othello is Moorish, but its use here has been controversial among some reviewers.) When Morelli wakes up, he joins the play too. What ensues is a vortex of slapstick entrances and exits, plot twists, double-entendres, and mistaken identities.

Lend Me a Tenor opens at 8 p.m. Friday at the Broward Stage Door Theatre (8036 W. Sample Road, Coral Springs). Tickets cost $38. The show runs through November 13. Call 954-344-7765, or visit stagedoortheatre.com.
Wednesdays-Saturdays. Starts: Oct. 14. Continues through Nov. 13, 2011

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