Theater Review—

‘Bell, Book and Candle’ A Beautifully Stylized Period Piece

That Offers Relaxing Entertainment

By Julie Stern

NEW HAVEN — John Van Druten was an English born, naturalized American playwright, who achieved great success in the 1940s and 50s with some well-crafted comedic plays: The Voice of the Turtle, I Remember Mama and Bell, Book and Candle. These were well received, ran for a long time, were made into popular movies, and had television spin-offs (remember Bewitched?).

Perhaps as a sop to those subscribers who were confused by Macbeth 1969, or bothered by February House, New Haven’s Long Wharf has shifted gears and filled its March slot with the last of the abovementioned works, dealing with the romantic tribulations of a beautiful young witch in Manhattan in the early fifties.

Gillian Holroyd, a beautiful young woman who happens to be a witch, lives in a Manhattan apartment with her black cat (and familiar) Pyewacket. Her Aunt Queenie, also a witch, lives upstairs, and her brother Nicky, a warlock, is a frequent visitor as well. They form a cheerfully amoral trio, enjoying their powers to make casual mischief, until Gillian learns that Shepherd Henderson, a handsome bachelor who also lives in the building, is engaged to her old college rival, a girl who was mean to her.

Impulsively Gillian decides to break up that romance by casting a spell that will cause Shep to fall in love with her instead. It works perfectly. Shep is smitten. After a whirlwind courtship he begs her to marry him… and therein lies the problem.

Witches are not supposed to have any feelings. Should a witch fall in love with a human, she will lose her powers … And because she does love him, Gillian feels forced to tell him the truth about who she is, and how she manipulated him … And of course this makes him furious, so that he stalks out.

Can she use magic to win him back? Not if she loves him. Her witchy powers don’t work any more…  Hmmm.

Does this sound a bit like a 1950s television show? That is, dated? Well,  let’s call it a beautifully stylized period piece, which captures every nuance of dress and furnishings and mannerisms and moral conventions (when Shep falls in love he demands that they get married so they can have sex) to anchor it firmly in its time.

The best thing about it is the music, a soundtrack of  sentimental 50s hits like Eartha Kitt singing “Santa Baby,” and Sammy Davis Jr’s rendition of “Hey There, You With the Stars in Your Eyes,” while Alexander Dodge’s set of the Danish modern interior of a high rise apartment, surrounded by tall buildings whose lights come on, while snow falls, is deceptively simple, but effective.

Kate MacCluggage is sharp as the temperamental Gillian. Robert Eli is sweetly goofy as a Fifties style version of a publisher, and Ruth Williamson does a very droll turn as Aunt Queenie, whose wig and glasses make her look a bit like Dustin Hoffman in drag in the movie Tootsie.

Michael Keyloun and Gregor Paslawsky round out the cast as Gillian’s exasperated brother, Nicky, and  witchcraft “expert” Sidney Redlitch, who becomes Queenie’s timid suitor.

Mad Men this is not, but if you have nostalgia for the 50s, or want to see something that is a simple entertainment with no underlying intellectual complexity, this makes for a relaxing, if long (three acts, two intermissions), bit of theater.

We took our grandchildren along (ages 8, 10 and 13) and they said they enjoyed it. When I asked the ten-year-old what I should say in the review, he thought for a while and said “Well, you could tell them that I understood it.” So did the eight-year-old. So will you.

(Performances continue until April 1. See the Enjoy Calendar, in print and online, for curtain and ticket details.)