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“I Do” “I Do” at STAGES this month
I Do! I Do! Vows to Tug
At Couples’ Heartstrings
by Pat Lindsey
Whether you’re a newlywed or a long-term veteran of marital bliss, you’ll be able to identify with the trials and tribulations of Agnes and Michael in I Do! I Do! now playing at STAGES in Kirkwood through July 1.
It’s a two-person show that takes us through 50 years of marriage beginning in 1895 and ending in 1945. The intimacy of the Reim Theatre is perfect for this show, which takes place entirely in a bedroom with a four-poster bed. Written by the artistic team of Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, who created The Fantasticks in 1966, I Do! I Do! is such a rigorous production that it requires two separate casts on alternating performance dates to sing and dance their way into our hearts as they pay homage to marriage and the universal theme of finding yourself through a relationship with someone else.
Corinne Melancon and Steve Isom played the parts of Agnes and Michael on the night that my husband and I saw the show and there were several times when they reminded me of Lucy and Ricky. Together, they are an authentic married couple who manages to get past the awkwardness of the wedding night to two pregnancies, through infidelity, the desire for their children to be married, an empty nest, and finally down-sizing to an apartment. The little pillow stitched with “God is Love”–a wedding gift from Agnes’s mother–startles Michael on their wedding night and is the last thing they bicker about as they say goodbye to their home of 50 years.
The opening scene takes a bit of imagination to visualize this couple as young newlyweds, but in the second act, there is a touching scene that allows us to watch Agnes and Michael age before our eyes as they apply makeup and gray wigs.
Throughout the show, Michael’s search for his vest becomes a running joke. (Has there ever been a man who can find anything, especially when it’s right where it’s supposed to be?) As the years go by, Agnes becomes resentful of Michael’s demands and his rising fame as a writer. She feels subservient and eventually demoralized when Michael confesses that he has changed and has eyes for another woman. According to Michael, “a man is like a late October rose. Men of 40 go to town and women go to pot.” Agnes retaliates with her secretly-purchased hideous plumed hat as she belts out her song, “Flaming Agnes.”
Somehow, the marriage survives and the audience continues to be transported on the journey through song and dance.In the end, as the couple is waiting for a car to take them to their new apartment, Michael finds a bottle of champagne left over from one of the children’s weddings. They contemplate popping the cork, but the only glasses they can find are the “teeth glasses.” So, they leave the bottle intact and place it on the pillow of the four-poster bed beside the little pillow that says, “God is Love.”
The STAGES production of “I Do! I Do!” will be performed 27 times this month on the Reim Theatre stage. If you’ve ever been in love, go see it soon. Better yet, see it twice. For ticket information, call 314-821-2407 or visit www.StagesStLouis.org.
