Charles L. Mee's seductive valentine to a sun-dappled Paris in the spring and the possibility of love between an enchanting young French woman and a somewhat boring older American man is as light as a souffle and as refreshing as an aperitif (or in this case a lemonade) sipped at a sidewalk cafe. The production values here, under Marc Masterson's fluid direction, are so strong, they almost camouflage the play's thinness.
Without scenic designer Paul Owen's eye-catching grove of slim bare trees that seem to dance around nightclub singer Jacqueline (the magical Christa Scott-Reed, with her adorable French accent) and "stuffed shirt" (as she describes him) tourist Andrew (Tom Teti), and without the extremely effective video projections that showcase Paris and the oddly-matched pair as they drink, dine, sleep together, and float through the city filming each other, there would be little more here than a periodically amusing or poignant discussion-duet on life and love.
The cinematic approach is a plus since it stirs fond memories of classic movies filmed in Paris. Scott-Reed could be channeling Leslie Caron and Audrey Hepburn, though to imagine the earthbound Teti doing the same for Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, or Cary Grant would be a stretch. The light-hearted tripping through town that Jacqueline and Andrew do is a marvelous bit of choreography, even if it does become repetitious. A scene in which Jacqueline tries on several dresses for Andrew's approval (she wonders, in her endearing way, if they might have a relationship based on shopping) is entrancing. But an interlude when the play's only other character, Josh Walden, cast as a waiter who at one point bursts into glorious song, pushes the pair around the stage in a bathtub is an awkward and distracting touch.
Edith Piaf's "Hymn to Love," throbbingly sung by Scott-Reed as the show winds down, might stand as its subtitle. But on second thought, that would be far too weighty a load to bear for Mee's bonbon, the third entry in the 26th annual Humana Festival of New American Plays.
