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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Babette's Feast Also see Richard's reviews of Flyin' West and David Kwong: The Enigmatist
On this humble stage, Babette's Feast is brilliantly clear and entertaining, based on a short story by Isak Dinesen, a tale now best known as an Oscar-winning Danish film from 1987. The lighthearted play was adapted from the original story by Rose Courtney, having been conceived and developed by Abigail Killeen. It's directed in North St. Louis with perfect comic pitch by Owen Brown for Bread & Wine Theatre, and co-produced by KTK Productions. A whimsical storybook pageant, its chorus of prologues often recite in cartoonish unison. The theatrical version premiered in early 2018 at the Portland Stage in Maine and quickly moved to Off-Broadway in March of the same year, at the Theatre at St. Clements. This production runs a bracing hour and forty-five minutes without an intermission. The food is all pantomimed, but the stagecraft is delicious. Imagine Our Town if Our Town were faster-paced and full of comical Norwegian Lutherans. They are suddenly blessed by the mind-altering benefits of (imaginary) French cuisine, prepared by a Roman Catholic chef. The time is 1883, and the original story was set in Norway, though the movie changed that locale to Denmark. And for the church scenes, pews from upstairs at the Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church go flying on and off like magic. Enhancing the mood, the instrumental work by music director Nathan Wamsley is rich in a "meant to be" kind of beauty. The cast is perfect. Deborah Roby brings a complex, knowing charm to the title role as an artistic French chef, bequeathed to a pair of sisters in this hamlet by the sea by a brokenhearted suitor. The sisters are played by Sonya Valentine, excellent as the earnest Martine, and Michelle Yoder, likewise filled with a humble Christian ethic as Philippa. Ms. Yoder sings quite beautifully when the suitor, a famed opera singer (plagued by thoughts of death, embodied here by Ben Smith) first arrives in town. Delightful Michael Cox and delirious Madeline Trinity vie for top honors in the comedy department, in multiple roles. The joy of the show seems entirely imported from France, being both light and passionate. Mary Elsa Henrich is a great addition as various people of the town. Charlie Labitska is wonderfully confident and smooth as a visiting general who had been made glorious in his youth in the Franco-Prussian war (which Babette had fled in 1871). And Cole Wright is gleeful fun as the father of Martine and Philippa, and equally full-bodied in other parts. It left me a bit quizzical, but a pair of lovely young lasses (Lucy Marie and Pippa Gutting) whip up their own magic spell with three great intervals of disciplined Irish dance. The style is dissonant, but transporting on a primal level, as a kind of road sign to the enchantment of the people of Berlevåg. Ms. Yoder, as Philippa, has a beautiful singing voice and, in the first half, the opera star aspires to become her Svengali. In one of her lessons with Mr. Smith they go lilting through Mozart's "Seduction Duet" from Don Giovanni, though for some reason it reminded me of the "Lumberjack Song" from Monty Python. Sorry, Mozart. The show boasts very fine costumes by Tara Laurel, with strong lighting by Megan King and impressive sound by Connor Shelton. The ebullient director keeps his actors, like glowing ornaments, filled with a passionate devotion to character and entertainment. It's all a triumph of justifiable confidence. Babette's Feast, produced by Bread & Wine Theatre in cooperation with KTK Productions, runs through March 29, 2026, at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 3519 N. 14th Street, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.breadandwinetheatreco.com. Cast: Dancers: Lucy Marie, Pippa Gutting Production Staff: |
