It’s a feast for the eyes, ears, heart and soul.
True — theatergoers who attend “Intimate Apparel” at the Two River Theater Company in Red Bank should come prepared to have their hearts broken. But they’ll feel much pleasure amid the pain. Seret Scott’s production on Tony Cisek’s beautiful set is exemplary.
“Intimate Apparel,” Lynn Nottage’s extraordinary play, takes us back to 1905, when Esther, an African American seamstress, is just turning 35.
All Esther wants is a good man to marry. Each passing day makes this less likely for the 35-year-old virgin.
Part of the problem is that Esther believes that she’s unattractive. To hide her looks, Esther could do what people did in those pre-internet days: become a pen-pal, in the hopes that writing letters could lead to more. But Esther’s illiterate. Luckily, Mrs. Van Buren — one of her well-heeled Fifth Avenue customers — volunteers to do the writing for her.
This would seem to be a gender/race reversal of “Cyrano de Bergerac” — but Nottage smartly takes the play in a completely different direction. Through the mail, Esther meets George Armstrong, a sensitive and loving man from Barbados, and “Mr. Marks,” a fabric dealer.
While Esther and “Mr. Marks” seem to have much more in common, he is Jewish. Is it better that Esther stick to her own kind?
Not necessarily. “Intimate Apparel” offers one surprise after another. When the audience Saturday night’s opening saw the way that some of the characters were behaving, they gave out gasps of disbelief worthy of a whodunit.
And the cheers they gave at the end of the performance were the kind one hears at the curtain calls of a great big Broadway musical hit.
Stacey Sargeant does the complicated character of Esther complete justice. She conveys that Esther’s lack of confidence in her appearance is her only Achilles’ heel — she is otherwise a woman who has boundless confidence in her abilities and intelligence.
Mrs. Van Buren is a character who reveals a great deal more of herself than she might have imagined. Only the most accomplished of actresses could make this added dimension believable. Amy Lynn Stewart does just that.
Last year, Lynn Nottage won a Pulitzer Prize for “Ruined,” her drama about victimized Congolese women. While it was certainly well-deserved, one must wonder after seeing “Intimate Apparel” if the Pulitzer committee was also honoring her for the play they missed honoring five seasons earlier.
Intimate Apparel
Where: Two River Theater Company, 21 Bridge Ave., Red Bank
When: Through Oct. 10. Wednesdays at 1 and 8 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays at 8 p.m. Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m.
How much: $35-$60. $30 for those 30 and younger. Call (732) 345-1400 or visit trtc.org