Two Musicals for the Price of One at Parsippany Playhouse

There is plenty to love about the Women’s Theater Company’s production of “Romance/Romance,” which opened its run—and the professional company’s new season—Friday at the Parsippany Community Center.

The joys of this charming and musical, though, go well beyond the four attractive actors who couple up right before us in the intimate confines of the cozy Parsippany Playhouse.

Marc. G. Dalio, Marcia Sofley, Ashley Kowzun and Joe D’Angio are all very appealing, individually and collectively, but the musical’s greatest asset might be the two men squeezed into the tiny stage-left orchestra pit. Once again, musical director and keyboard player Warren Helms has teamed with bassist Tim Metz to do justice to an elegant and frequently lush score.

Adding to the excitement of opening night on Friday, writer Barry Harman and composer Keith Herrmann—Tony-nominated in 1988 for their respective contributions to this off-Broadway and Broadway hit—were in the audience and stuck around for a post-curtain reception.

Saturday night, the cast performed to another receptive crowd, which was granted a voyeur’s view of two different romantic stories, one in each of two acts.

The first—and best — —iis a humorous romance that manages to be both cynical and sincere. “A Little Comedy” transports the audience to turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna, where Alfred (Dalio), an upper-class swell, frets about his situation. Poor thing is too rich and too handsome to know if the “predatory females” in high society would love him if his pockets were empty. So he dresses down to mingle with the working class, in search of truth and true love.

Simultaneously unfolding are similar circumstances for Josefine (Sofley), a lady of, ahem, experience, who has just cut her latest sugar daddy loose out of sheer boredom. She, too, seeks the fresh passion of love without the complications of wealth and social standing, and trades her satin gown for calico in search of a handsome-but-penniless poet to cuddle.

Naturally, they find each other and fall madly in love, all the while knowing they are deceiving their new soul mates. Their dilemma is intensified on a trip to a frighteningly rustic forest inn, where neither can escape to the creature comforts both are used to.

“A Little Comedy” reaches a more satisfying conclusion than the second romance, “Summer Share,” which fast forwards the calendar to 1988 and the Hamptons. Dalio and Sofley are now Sam and Monica, successful yuppie-types sharing a beach home with their respective spouses. The premise comes early — Sam and Monica are longtime platonic best friends who are now best friends with each other’s marriage partners (Kowzun and D’Angio, who spent the first act as costumed dancers and various support roles).

Of course, the audience is brought in at the moment Sam and Monica allow their flirtation to escalate into passion. The mood of their story is considerably darker than that of the pragmatic Alfred and Sofia, but it also is more passionate and intense.

I preferred the first act, but both had their moments. Both are different enough that “Romance/Romance” comes closer than most musicals to the cliché of a show having “something for everyone.”

Helms and Metz, meanwhile, play brilliantly in both acts. Helms shines in the first act, using synthesizers to effectively represent a full orchestra. Metz goes from standup to electric bass for the more contemporary second-act score, popping off a solo that allows Dalio to play some air guitar.

Dalio, a professor of voice at New Jersey City University with a square jaw and smooth, sweet voice, radiated intensity a foot from the front row, while Sofley anchored the comedy with a perky, natural charm.

Kowzun and D’Angio spent most of the first act as costumed dancers, adding some flash to scene and costume changes (Lauren Moran Mills doubled as director and choreographer, both nicely accomplished). In the second act, they got to emote as the insecure spouses. Their shining moment comes during a welcome comedy number, “My Love for You,” which imagines a future where they’ll be dancing with walkers and canes.

Last year, Mills and Helms proved to be successful team when the WTC nailed two musicals, “Side by Side by Sondheim” and “And the World Goes ’Round.” Once again, they’ve hit the mark with “Romance/Romance.” You had better enjoy their work while you can—right in town for $20 or less—before the big boys across the river snatch them away.

The Women’s Theater Company production of “Romance/Romance” runs through  Oct. 9 at the Parsippany Community Center’s Parsippany Playhouse, 1130 Knoll Road. Tickets are $20, $18 for seniors. For tickets or information, visit www.womenstheater.org or call 973-316-3033.