Popular award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig its best known for witty comedies [Lend Me a Tenor], musicals [Crazy for You], and outlandish spoofs on the classics [Baskerville], so his romantic comedy Dear Jack, Dear Louise -- a two-hander that opened last week in the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's intimate Octagon Theatre -- would seem at first glance to be a departure from the norm.
Not so...it bears the stamp of his oeuvre: snappy dialogue, fast-paced action, and characters audiences are meant to root for.
Based on the true story of how Ludwig's parents met through the exchange of letters during World War II -- Jack [Pete Winfrey], a shy doctor is serving Stateside in Oregon at the beginning of the War and later posted to the European front; Louise [Oriana Lada], an outgoing Brooklyn born actress/dancer aspires to Broadway stardom. -- Opposites attract, don't they? And we know from the outset where this is going.
What begins as a dutifully polite exchange of letters [their fathers, who were friends, thought it would be a good idea for them to "meet"], develops over 3+ years into an endearing love story. In time, the language of their correspondences gradually loosens up as they share thoughts and concerns, until they admit they like each other and want to meet in person...and this becomes the central device that thwarts their meeting for a variety of reasons; and it sustains the tension because we have come to like them.
There is plenty of humor here too. Though the disappointments of not meeting either because letters took a long time to be delivered, or Jack's commanding officer delays granting him leave, or his posting overseas makes it impossible, or Louise's taking an acting job with a touring company complicates things, they take it in good humor despite the growing frustrations as their mutual feelings develop into love.
Ludwig hasn't penned the letters as stand-alone complete epistles as A. R. Gurney did in his Pulitzer Prize winning Love Letters; instead he presents snippets of Jack's and Louise's letters that enables his characters to comment quickly as if in face-to-face conversations. A naturalistic device that brings them into close contact with each other and to us, the audience.
Mr. Winfrey and Ms. Lada are almost always on stage together with a few brief times out of our sight, and the chemistry between them is palpable, even though they never look at each other during the two acts. -- Director Risa Brainin stages them so we can see their faces and register their feelings. She also establishes a rapid-fire pace with the dialogue that the actors deliver with alacrity so every moment speaks to the truth in their personalities and situations. They speak with little commentary, but nonetheless invite us into their lives.
The impact on War on the private lives of both Jack and Louise resonates with us, and while Dear Jack, Dear Louise is more than a nostalgic paean to a more innocent time [listen to the sound track of many Big Band hits], the period costumes by Val Winkelman use fabrics, cuts and finishes, and a warm muted color palette that transports audiences to the 1940s, and helps in accessing the universals of a romantic love story.
