Are there any jukeboxes that strictly play classical music? Were there ever any jukeboxes that strictly played classical music? If so, you can call the Ensemble for the Romantic Century production Tchaikovsky: None But the Lonely Heart a jukebox musical. And while you’re at it, call it a worthy jukebox musical.
Bookwriter (librettist?) Eve Wolf has gone through the letters that Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Joey Slotnick) exchanged from 1876 for the next two decades or so with generous patroness Nadezhda Philaretovna von Meck (Shorey Walker, here an astonishing Katharine Hepburn lookalike). They begin formally, but in short time the composer lets her know that in the face of difficulties he’s having in his career, he’s consoled with her responses to his works and has begun to think only of her when he writes.
Over the course of the letters they become platonic lovers, while at no time do they meet, though they once share a summer vacation near each other. When there, she passes the home he’s occupying but counts on his not seeing her. He glimpses her occasionally but is careful not to let her see him.
From time to time Tchaikovsky also writes to his brother Modia and in one message talks about longing for a young man of his new acquaintance. Nonetheless, he fights his homosexual desires. Hoping to remove himself from temptation, he eventually marries 28-eight-year-old Antonina Miliukova. It’s a pathetic mistake, and increasingly he comes to dislike her but, he admits, for nothing she’s done.
(In the script, it’s indicated that he deserts the marriage. That the couple never divorced and in time she becomes the widow Tchaikovskaya isn’t specified.)
In other words, Wolf reports that Tchaikovsky’s only love affair with a woman was with the married-with-children but unhappy von Meck. As she arranges it, the actors sit on opposite sides of Vanessa James’ set—in James’ extravagant period costumes—so that they’re metaphorically distanced. At only one moment does von Meck invade Tchaikovsky’s space to cradle him in his despair.
Wolf’s intent is to show how Tchaikovsky’s inability to express his love and desires physically is part of what can be true of most, if not all creators: “a double life,” the daily and artistic lives. Tchaikovsky clearly expresses everything in his music that he otherwise can’t express. This can be said of many artists, it seems, but is certainly the case here.
This leads to precisely what makes Tchaikovsky: None But the Lonely Heart so movingly effective. Upstage between the desk at which he writes—or recites—and the table at which she writes—recites—is a trio of musicians. They’re pianist Ji, cellist Ari Evan, and violinist Stephanie Zyzak.
They perform throughout, the point being that the audience hears the emotions expressed that Tchaikovsky and von Meck are only partially able to reveal. That the musicians are expert at their instruments means they prove Wolf’s implicit belief beyond questioning.
On several occasions tenor Adrian Kramer, appearing as the men whom Tchaikovsky wants but denies himself, sings. For one instance he passionately delivers “None But the Lonely Heart” the Tchaikovsky song set to Goethe’s poem, “Nur wer die Sehnsucht kennt”. Despite the limited space in which he’s able to maneuver, the danseur noble Daniel Mantei choreographs himself with elegance.
(Devoted moviegoers know the 1944 None But the Lonely Heart for which Ethel Barrymore won a supporting actress Oscar and Cary Grant received his only Oscar nomination. These moviegoers are also likely familiar with Ken Russell’s 1970 The Music Lovers, starring Richard Chamberlain as the composer).
In crafting the piece (well lighted by Beverly Emmons), Wolf may be making assumptions about the depths of the feelings Tchaikovsky and von Meck state. (Not all the dialog is taken from letters. At times, it may be that she’s consulted diaries.)
Additionally, her attitude towards composers pouring their feelings into their music isn’t new news. Whether or not that’s so—and as aided by the actors and musicians, under Donald T. Sanders’ direction—she’s goes a long way towards proving the familiar argument about how profoundly none but lonely hearts deal with their constricted experiences.
Tchaikovsky: None but the Lonely Heart opened May 31, 2018, at Signature Center and runs through June 17. Tickets and information: romanticcentury.org
