In 1939 Warsaw, Poland, just as a theater troupe headed by Josef (David Rasche) and his wife, Maria Tura (Jan Maxwell) is set for a major opening, the German invasion brings things to a screeching halt, preventing the company from presenting its latest opus: a re-enactment of Germany’s invasion of Poland. They decide to substitute Hamlet.
To spice up the plot, the group is wooed into obtaining a list of resistance fighters from the Nazis by a handsome young bomber pilot, Lt. Sobinsky (Steve Kazee). He nightly fills Maria’s dressing room with grand bouquets of flowers, which he quirkily hand delivers, by means of squirming in front of the first row of the orchestra seats on his way backstage, lending a nice touch, both realistic and farcical.
Sobinsky’s wild attraction for Maria, whom he frequently visits in her dressing room, hardly puts a dent in Josef’s insatiable ego, at least, not at first. Josef is wound up tightly in his performance of Hamlet, as the audience is treated to his rendition of the titled soliloquy. David Rasche hams it up, but hilariously and effectively, to my mind.
As a nice conceit, director Casey Nicholaw has staged the soliloquy in two directions, first facing front to the Broadway audience, then later with Rasche’s back to us, as he addresses the Warsaw audience. The entire troupe is also very much in evidence, with Peter Maloney lending weight as the troupe’s worried director, and Marina Squerciati as the company’s ingénue, who later takes up with the director.
