Watered down Tartuffe has no bite

By MICHAEL KUCHWARA
AP Drama Critic NEW YORK (AP) -- Are you ready for batter-fried Moliere, a hominy-and-grits reworking of "Tartuffe" that transplants the 17th-century French comedy classic to the American South of today?
That's what you will get at Broadway's Circle in the Square where a high-concept but low-return version of the play called "Tartuffe: Born Again" opened Thursday.
Tartuffe, the theater's favorite religious hypocrite, is now a televangelist who has finagled his way into the household of a wealthy owner of a Louisiana television studio.
The adaptation by Freyda Thomas starts promisingly enough. It's odd -- and funny -- to hear the play's rhyming couplets drenched in the molasses of Southern accents. Yet the novelty quickly wears off.
Compounding that problem is Thomas' broad and only occasionally funny translation. There are tepid jokes about the National Rifle Association, Bill Clinton and even the heathens in New York City, among predictable topics.
What gives the evening its intermittent sparks are several performances, particularly those of John Glover, in the title role, and David Schramm as Orgon, his gullible truest believer.
Glover, a tall, vulturous man with carefully coiffed hair, is a commanding con man. He oozes a pious insincerity as he attempts to seduce Orgon's wife in the name of Jesus.
Schramm is Glover's physical opposite. He's a rotund, moon-faced comedian who can play exasperation to perfection. Schramm is a joy to watch explode.
The supporting range from the cartoony -- Alison Fraser as the TV studio floor manager who sees through Tartuffe's ruses -- to the charming -- Jane Krakowski as Schramm's magnolia-sweet daughter.
Director David Saint keeps things pretty much in hand, although the second-act seduction scene between Tartuffe and Orgon's spouse never completely takes off, despite some excellent physical comedy by Glover and Haviland Morris as the savvy wife.
Designer Allen Moyer's TV studio setting is religious wedding-cake modern, a lot of tiered white curtains. Television monitors are supported above the set by glass angels. It work well on the Circle's in-the-round playing area, which Saint has utilized to good advantage.
Religious hypocrisy never seems to go out of style and, right now, in an election year, it seems particularly in fashion. Yet Thomas is far too benign in her satire. The outrage has been blunted.
This "Tartuffe" then is not so much "born again" as it is "watered down." Think "Elmer Gantry" by way of the "Beverly Hillbillies." Dawg.

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