The “Carnival!” has come to The Kennedy Center. The show’s impressive color and showmanship might make Washingtonians come one and come all, but there’s one small problem.
Make that one Magnificent problem. But we’ll get to that.
Sweet and naïve Lili (Ereni Sevasti) leaves an isolated French village and, with nowhere to turn, falls in with the traveling Grande Imperial Cirque du Paris. Starry-eyed and hopeful, she is immediately swept up by the spectacle, the prospect of employment and, most of all, by the alluring Marco the Magnificent (Sebastian La Cause).
Enter protagonist Paul (Jim Stanek), a hard-luck puppeteer whose leg injury has reduced his ballet prowess to a far-off — but not far enough — memory. Disillusioned and mad at the world, Paul is an impossible partner to the patient and kind Jacquot (Michael Arnold) and is distant to Lili, despite his hidden pining for her.
Lili is smitten with the charming Marco, whose bravado and crude-oil slickness have won over many a young maiden before. Despite objections from perturbed Paul and the high-energy, feverishly jealous Rosalie (Natascia Diaz), who is Marco’s “girlfriend” and assistant in his magic act, Lili falls under his smarmy spell.
And how could she not?
From the show’s outset, Marco commands the stage. He is color; he is movement. He is throwing knives; he is vanishing roses. He is smoothness; he is confidence; he is passion. Opposite Marco, Paul is sullen and brooding, the “Carnival!” party pooper. Paul’s hard exterior doesn’t hint of a gooey, lovable core that’s waiting to be mined. Instead, he seems empty and angry and wholly unlikable. Stanek’s sing-songy line recitation is fit for Broadway parody, stamping his character all the more hackneyed and corny.
When Lili joins up with Paul and Jacquot to create a new popular act, Marco wonders — as does the audience — how a childish puppet show could win such acclaim. If “Yum Ticky Ticky Tum Tum” and “Beautiful Candy” are any indication, his bewilderment is understandable.
Likewise, Lili is trumped by Rosaline, a more exciting, powerful — and here, talented — character. Diaz shows poise, and the chops to match, in all of her efforts, especially “Humming,” easily the best early-show number, and “Always, Always You,” a later success that plucked at the heartstrings in a way in which Lili and Paul’s relationship often failed. It’s difficult to take to a show in which the supporting cast clearly outpaces the stars.
Similarly, Jacquot is also quite likable, and he fills the role of Nice Guy For the Audience to Root For with Paul not up to the task. Arnold’s Jacquot shines in his big moment, “Grand Imperial Cirque du Paris,” which also showcases The Kennedy Center’s resources in a full spectacle of balloons, lighting, dancing, the works.
Even this moment, though, with all its grandeur and pageantry, doesn’t bring the stage to life in the same way Marco the Magnificent does. Marco’s exaggerated diabolicalness could have easily been a recipe for pained mediocrity, but instead he pops from his surroundings like a 3-D cutout. Just like Marco’s laundry list of past women, the audience can’t bear to be without him. And when he’s not around, this carnival is typical — bright, polished, pretty and superficially entertaining, but nothing more.
‘Carnival!’
Through March 11
Venue: The Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, F St. NW, Washington
Performances: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sundays; 1:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays
Tickets: $25 to $90
Information: 202-467-4600 or kennedy-center.org
