American Players Theatre revels in 'Fallen Angels'

It's a 100-year-old Noel Coward farce and a love story

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On a muggy summer night in Wisconsin, there’s nothing more refreshing than sitting down for a show at American Players Theatre (APT) in Spring Green, beverage in hand. And if you’re in the mood for a laugh, Fallen Angels is an excellent choice.

Fallen Angels is a farcical comedy written by Noel Coward in 1925 about two best friends, Julia (Phoebe González) and Jane (Laura Rook), who learn that their years-ago lover (whom they both dated at different times) will soon pay them a visit. Settled down in London now and mourning the fading passion in their respective marriages, the two women fantasize about reconnecting with the suave Frenchman, Maurice Duclos (Ronald Román-Meléndez) and agonize over whether they’ll be able to resist his charms. (And do they even want to resist his charms?) What will happen if word gets out that Julia and Jane dared to fall in love (gasp) and even have sex (double gasp) before meeting their husbands? An exchange from act one sums up the back-and-forth nicely: “It seems so unfair that men should have the monopoly on wild oats,” Julie laments. Jane replies, “They haven’t really, but it’s our job to make them think they have.”

The maid, Saunders (Colleen Madden), provides an extra layer of comic relief to an already hilarious story by whipping out niche knowledge of golf and piano playing, breaking into dances with an oversized feather duster, and charming the audience with her Irish accent. She adds fuel to the drama between Julia and Jane by continuing to serve them martinis and champagne on empty stomachs. “If you’ll allow me to say so, Madam,” Saunders tells Jane, “several drinks never did any harm — it’s only the first drink which is dangerous. After that the damage is done.”

The magic of this production, directed by Shannon Cochran, is in the beautifully choreographed physical humor. (Jeb Burris is the intimacy, fight and movement director.) The show opens with a playful dance between Julia and her husband, Fred (Nate Burger), and throughout the performance, characters glide across the stage on the ottoman, fall over each other onto the couch, twirl around each other like clockwork, and at one point even spray seltzer water into the audience. And, as you might expect with a sexually charged script, there are suggestive movements involving a sausage and an enormous bunch of grapes.

Besides the humor, audiences will appreciate the elegant, Great Gatsby-esque aesthetic. The set (designed by Scott Penner) is the dining room of a posh, Art Nouveau London flat, with a grand staircase, geometric columns and banister, leafy houseplants, and luxuriously upholstered furniture. The costumes (designed by Fabio Toblini) come straight from 1930s fashion plates, and Julia and Jane spend the second act wearing glamorous satin evening gowns that glimmer in the stage lights as the characters’ physical comedy becomes more and more ridiculous. As Shannon Cochran says in her director’s note, the production “leans into the aesthetic of 1930s Hollywood — those gorgeously lit musicals and screwball comedies that often used the artifice of glamour and style to reflect real tensions beneath the surface.”

Viewers hoping for a thought-provoking exploration of feminism and sexual liberation will be disappointed. The play was written, after all, by a man in 1925, and while audiences in that year may have been shocked by Julia and Jane’s frank discussions of sexual desire and premarital sex, contemporary audiences are more likely to find the storyline old-fashioned. And at its core, Fallen Angels is about two women obsessing and fighting over a man. Still, it is refreshing to see women dominate the stage in a comedy and keep audiences laughing for the full two hour and five minute run time. And, as Cochran points out in her director’s note, Julia and Jane’s friendship is an example of a “fraught, funny and fiercely loyal” bond between women. 

Fallen Angels runs through Oct. 3 at APT’s Hill Theatre.