COLE PORTER'S NYMPH ERRANT
By Cole Porter
Directed by Rob Urbinati
Featuring: Susan Bachman, Nicole Benton, Jude Bishop, Sarah Bousquet, Hossein Forouzandeh, Dan Fosha, Shannon French, Rachel Gavaletz, Connie Heidenreich, Christine Patterson, Jana Ross, Gary Tatel, Ricky Vila-Roger, Lisa Walecki
Set: Nancy Hankin
Theatreworks, Colorado Springs, CO
November 2002
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"If you can bear to take your eyes off the bevy of gorgeous young women populating the stage in "Nymph Errant," you'll be rewarded with something almost as beautiful: a sea of smiling faces in the audience. Theatreworks scores a perfect 10 in its production of Cole Porter's 1933 musical comedy...
It would be easy to criticize "Nymph Errant." It's dated, politically incorrect and sexist; the characters are a parade of ethnic stereotypes and the storyline makes an episode of "King of Queens" look like "King Lear." But all that stuff evaporates when confronted with this production's infinite charm. "Nymph Errant" is as effervescent as champagne, as opulent as a Venetian palazzo and as seductive as a harem girl - all of which, by the way, appearin the show..."
"Nymph Errant" will never again exist in this incarnation because what director Rob Urbinati does goes far beyond direction. He reshaped the story, giving it a romantic interest and turning what was originally a star vehicle into an ensemble show. He imported other Porter songs - some familiar, some not - into a score that was already one of Porter's best. This brilliant result is surely more stage-worthy than the original."
Mark Arnest, The Gazette
November 15, 2002
"'Nymph Errant" is the errant musical in the Cole Porter canon, a curious buried treasure that never made it to New York or film. But little is amiss in the naughty but nice Rocky Mountain premiere of the rarely performed piece by TheatreWorks...
"The musical was revolutionary in its time for its lack of a leading man or single romantic interest, which was just one reason it was indignantly buried by shocked moralists of the day. It's hard to imagine what else audiences may have found offensive. The nudist colony? The reverend who bets against our protagonist's virginity? The classmate who comes out as a lesbian? In 1933? Yeah, maybe that was it.
Not that "Nymph Errant" was unearthed as a polished gem. The core was credible but had only one bona fide hit, the sensational cautionary tale, 'Solomon.'...Accomplished New York director Rob Urbinati solved that problem by integrating a few Porter standards to keep the audience's attention...This not-so-sublte tinkering with the score might be seen as sacrilege by some but it is rather evidence of the smart and confident sophistication Urbinati brings to every detail..."
"Nymph Errant" is the saucy story of five amorous girls on their final day of finishing school in Switzerland. They are eager to "Experiment," as directed by their chemistry teacher. The action follows Eve Edwards, who in her initial forays into the real world is bandied about, disrepected and even gambled away by a the short-attention spanned paramours she meets. But with her virtue still regrettably intact, the apple-biting Eve sours on men and takes control of her sexual destiny, which make her eventual discovery of true love with the one man who loved her all along and expression of mutual power."
"Wherever Eve goes, she finds one of her school chums living in various stages of sin. These scantily clad women are lovely, and especially lovely to look at... The simple set by Nancy Hankin takes us from Switzerland to France to Germany to Austria to Venice to Greece to Turkey to desert and back again. Or does it? Urbinati has the girls changing costumes onstage as if at a school sleepover, and he surreally positions the five so that they are never apart, making one wonder if this isn't all just the girls playacting what the world might be like on their final night together..."
"...Porter fans in Denver who are willing to errant themselves to the south will find their journey most rewarding."
John Moore, Denver Post
November 13, 2002
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