by Jess Hoffman
Valentine’s month is not over yet! At least, not at Confetti Stage, where the current production is a romantic comedy called Stage Kiss about a married actress who is cast to play opposite her old flame. When their intimacy onstage brings up old feelings, the protagonist finds herself caught between her husband and the man from her past. Much of the play takes place on-set for different plays-within-the-play, and so in addition to being a play about love and romance, it is also a play about theater and the way it can hold a mirror up to our own lives.
There are some standout performances in this show, but the cast overall deserves kudos for some fine bits of physical comedy. I must especially commend Vincent Lunello for a tumble in Act I that looked so realistic I was genuinely afraid the actor had hurt himself. I also must give a shoutout to Siobhan Shea, who stepped in for Kaelyn Marshall to play Laurie/Millicent in the production I saw and worked her way seamlessly into the show with minimal preparation.
The protagonist of Stage Kiss, named only “She” is superbly played by Edda Roemelt. From her sympathetically awkward audition in the first scene of the play, Roemelt brings vulnerability to the character that helps the audience love her, even as the play goes on and she becomes more and more an agent of her own misfortune. The Director (a character in the play Stage Kiss, not to be confused with Sean T. Baldwin or Marissa Lounello, the co-directors of this production of Stage Kiss) is played by Lindsey Dodd with a combination of eccentricity and enthusiasm, especially for her own terrible ideas, that should be all too recognizable to theater people everywhere. The Director is very much a character that all thespians know and love (or love to hate, or hate to love); but to Dodd’s credit, she is able to play a very recognizable role without the Director turning into a one-dimensional stock character.
In a humorous costuming choice, the director wears the same simple black dress throughout the play, but changes into a different eccentric scarf in every different scene. Overall the costuming in this show is well done, though the majority of the costumes are street clothes and probably coming from the wardrobes of the individual actors. But in the various plays-within-the-play there are some excellent–and intentionally over-the-top–costumes.
“Stage Kiss” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, presented by Confetti Stage at the Albany Masonic Temple. Photo: Laura Darling 
“Stage Kiss” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, presented by Confetti Stage at the Albany Masonic Temple. Photo: Laura Darling 
“Stage Kiss” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, presented by Confetti Stage at the Albany Masonic Temple. Photo: Laura Darling 
“Stage Kiss” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, presented by Confetti Stage at the Albany Masonic Temple. Photo: Laura Darling 
“Stage Kiss” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, presented by Confetti Stage at the Albany Masonic Temple. Photo: Laura Darling 
“Stage Kiss” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, presented by Confetti Stage at the Albany Masonic Temple. Photo: Laura Darling 
“Stage Kiss” by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, presented by Confetti Stage at the Albany Masonic Temple. Photo: Laura Darling 
While the costumes for the first act are well done, the set is an almost unbearable eyesore. The red couch, red carpet, red backdrop, and red curtains are all different shades of red that subtly clash with one another, and the gold pattern on the backdrop only adds to the clashing mess. Some of this may have been by design, as the play being rehearsed and performed in the first act is not meant to be a particularly good play. But there is a limit to how ugly you can make a set before it ceases to be funny and just becomes distracting; set designer Sean T. Baldwin unfortunately leaps over that line with the first act set. Luckily Baldwin redeems himself in the second act, which takes place in a cramped, messy apartment (and then, cleverly, on a play set based on that initial bachelor pad). That set, though not pretty, is much less of an eyesore and instead looks like an everyday urban bachelor pad.
While the set in act two is more real, the “real life” confrontation between He, She, She’s Husband, and Laura (He’s Girlfriend) is unrealistic and unsatisfying. There is a theme throughout the play that life imitates art and art imitates life, but I still found it hard to swallow that the “bad” plays-within-the-play revealed more real emotions than what happens in the “real” world of Stage Kiss. Luckily, the action picks up in Act II with another, different, play-within-a-play and eventually leads to a satisfying, slightly saccharine ending.
I can certainly see what playwright Sarah Ruhl was trying to explore with the metatheatrics and melodrama in Stage Kiss, but I found the play fell a bit short of making any sort of useful or deep comments on how life and art mirror one another. Instead, Stage Kiss felt like just another rom com that happens to take place in a theater and concern theater people. I must admit I am not a fan of romantic comedies, and I hung my hopes much more on the theatrical comedy the plot seemed to promise. But as He succinctly points out in Act I “There’s no accounting for taste,” and while Stage Kiss was not as much to my taste as I’d hoped, those who are more agreeable to a rom com will probably have a great time at Stage Kiss.
Confetti Stage presents Stage Kiss by Sarah Ruhl, directed by Sean T. Baldwin and Marissa Lounello, runs from February 23 – March 3, at the Albany Masonic Hall, 67 Corning Pl, Albany, NY 12207. Cast: Edda Roemelt as She, Vincent Lounello as He, Lindsey Dodd as Director, Jay Pascual as Kevin, Zachary Middleton as Husband/Harrison, Ro Dell’Acqua as Angela/Maid/Millie, Kaelyn Marshall as Laurie/Millicent. Stage Managers: Rachel Stewart. Produced by Sean T. Baldwin. Light design by Laura Darling. Sound design by Sean T. Baldwin. Costumes by Marissa Lounello and the Cast of Stage Kiss. Props by Marissa Lounello and Rachel Stewart. Set design by Sean T. Baldwin. Choreography by Rachel Leigh Head. Intimacy choreography by Amelia Pena.
Performance dates are Friday-Sunday (February 23-25) and Thursday-Sunday (February 29 – March 3). Thursday, Friday, and Saturday performances are at 7:30 pm and Sunday performances are 2pm matinees only. Tickets are $15 for general admission, $10 for students, and $8 per person for groups of 8 or more. Runs approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes with one intermission. Contains adultery and gunshots. Tickets are available at the door or online at https://confettistage.org/buy-tickets/.