It was love at first sight when Giulia Alfani (Claudia Shear) saw David for the first time. It was at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence in 2004, 500 years after a 26-year-old Michelangelo finished the work in two years. The was statue started by Agostino de Duccio in 1464, who quit. He was followed by Antonio Rosselino, whose contract was soon terminated. Eventually, the completed statue was placed at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio. In 1873 it was moved to the Accademia Gallery in Florence to protect it from further deterioration.
La Jolla Playhouse is presenting the world premiere of playwright/actress Shear's Restoration. The love story of Alfani for David is magical as the restorer spends a year carefully, tenderly bringing him back to Michelangelo's original pristine beauty. This was David's first major cleaning in over 160 years.
Giulia spends her time with David and longtime museum guard, Max (Daniel Serafini-Sauli), who has spent most of his adult life as David's guardian. He was there in 1991 when a deranged man damaged the toes on the left foot before he could restrain him.
Giulia and Max form a very interesting relationship: intimate when their conversation is about David and restrained when personal. Through their conversations we do learn some of the background of each, their passions and their desires.
Bookending the play is Professor Williams (Alan Mandell), who was responsible for the hiring of Giulia. Several times we meet the aloof Daphne (Kate Shindle), a museum official. As with Max, a relationship develops slowly between her and Giulia. Natalija Nogulich is tasked with running the social gamut in her three supporting roles as she easily transitions from charwoman in the museum to an elegant museum supporter to a passionate lover of David.
Director Christopher Ashley has presented this touching homage to Michelangelo's masterpiece quite simply and directly. The action takes place, for the most part, in scenic designer Scott Pask's pristine, unadorned off-white room of the museum surrounded on three sides by the restorer's scaffolding.
Kristin Ellert, projection designer, created limited, but informative impressions enhancing the set. Lighting and sound design by David Lander and Dan Moses Schreier are clean and unobtrusive, enhancing the set's austerity.
Shear's play, while fiction, follows closely to the contemporary history of David. She also has given her audiences availability to the story of David. Finally, this is a very human tale of relationships, changes in relationships, and how a single common element affects people. Restoration may very well be destined for Broadway.
