Review Highlights: PRIVATE LIVES - Arizona Theatre Company

Sarita Ocón and Hugo E. Carbajal
Photo by Tim Fuller

highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)

Click here for more information on this production that runs through May 28

"Noël Coward wrote Private Lives more than 90 years ago, but his comedy of manners that focuses on the battle of the sexes, and specifically on a pair of bickering spouses who have a love/hate relationship with each other, is as timely today as it was when it first premiered in 1930. Arizona Theatre Company has made some changes to the original location and time period of Coward's play, some that work and some that don't, but with a fantastic cast and sharp direction it still results in a witty, fun, and lively version of this classic comedy....for this production, the setting of the original play has been changed from France to Argentina and Uruguay, with act one set in Buenos Aires in 1931, and the characters are now South American instead of British, all of which work perfectly fine. However, what's a bit of a head scratcher is when act two, which is set in the play several days after act one and which the characters even refer to the short amount of time that has passed since the events of act one, here is set in modern times. The costumes and set shift from classic art deco designs, tuxedos, and gorgeous 1930s period evening gowns in act one to contemporary clothes, Apple watches, and a modern turntable in act two. If director KJ Sanchez is trying to show us that the theme and message of spouses who can't stand each other but also can't live without each other is timeless and still relevant today, we already get that from Coward's witty script; you don't have to hit us over the head with it by having act two set 92 years after act one, especially when the characters are the same and the references to time they state no longer make any sense."  - Gil Benbrook, TalkinBroadway.com (click here to read the complete review)

"When a production of Noel Coward’s 1930 “Private Lives” is witty and brilliant, audience guffaws start immediately as the complicated characters, limpid dialogue, and wacky plot are revealed.   But all the play’s comic malarkey is missing in the Arizona Theatre Company dry staging where KJ Sanchez’s listlessly lethargic direction traps the slyly amusing play.  Add bland acting, sketchy sets, and drab costuming that all fail to bring the play to its comically spiffy elegance. The play itself continues to shimmer and rock with comic irreverence as the characters debate misplaced divorce as two couples celebrate honeymoons in adjoining hotel rooms but the changes in the play never work and destroy it.

...Here it has been transported to South America where Coward’s riotous wit and clever characterizations don’t fit. Another weird alteration is that the play’s first act is set in 1931 but the latter two acts shift to contemporary times but the characters never age which makes no sense."   -Chris Curcio, Curtain Up Phoenix (click here to read the complete review)

"a re-imagined, Latin-flavored Arizona Theatre Company production of the hugely popular 1931 Noël Coward comedy, PRIVATE LIVES, directed by KJ Sanchez....The way director Sanchez has handled some of the more challenging cultural differences between Coward's work and her re-imagined version is to simply cut it....But what's truly curious about the Pacific crossover is the sense of time. Like the original, the setting at the hotel for Act One is 1931...Yet, what follows when we become open to the private lives of these characters in the following two acts...but a leap from 1931 in Argentina to modern-day Uruguay. What exactly are we supposed to draw from having these 1930s characters meet up again in present-day Uruguay? That's ninety-two years later. They're not latter-day equivalents, they're still the same people.Giving those final two acts a curious modern-day setting works against everything achieved in Act One....all four performers rise to the comedic levels required, particularly Sarita Ocón who, from her initial entrance to the final fade, elevates the production with the kind of energy required to make her Amanda burst with life. However, what may be lost in translation for those new to Coward and his stylized construction of the upper-classes bickering in a drawing room is the underlying satirical theme of the privileged, their hypocrisies, and their self-indulgent values. "  - David Appleford, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)