DTC’s ‘War of the Roses’: Intense and laugh-filled

For many years, there was an abandoned red brick building on Wilmington’s Riverfront, right beside the Delaware Theatre Company. Although seeming on the verge of tumbling down, it somehow continued to stand. On Friday of last week, it was there. The next day, it was gone.

That’s an apt metaphor for the marriage depicted in “The War of the Roses,” Warren Adler’s iconic 1981 novel whose title has entered the lexicon to describe an acrimonious divorce. The novel was made into a celebrated feature film, and a stage version has been performed throughout Europe.

But the DTC production, which kicked off the theater’s 38th season with a standing ovation on Saturday night, is Adler’s new adaptation in its North American premiere.

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The biting black comedy opens (and the laughs begin) as Barbara Rose (Christina DeCicco) and husband Jonathan (Jack Noseworthy) sit center stage to recount the dismantling of their longtime marriage. The Roses live in a Washington, D.C., showcase home that they worked all their marriage to perfect. They have two kids (talked about but never seen) and two beloved pets (likewise).

Things may seem idyllic, but Barbara wants a change from the supportive housewife to start her own business, and Jack has come to depend on things just the way they are. A suspected health crisis suddenly propels them into new marital territory, and off they go.

The upscale couple puts their divorce proceedings in the hands of two lawyers who try in vain to guide them to reason. Both spouses say they want an amicable divorce. The only caveat is that each wants the house. Barbara seeks advice from the blue-blooded Thurmont (a suave Cameron Folmar), who gamely changes sports – tennis, golf, polo – and apparel as his client’s frenzy increases. Jonathan’s counsel is the pragmatic Goldstein (Lenny Wolpe in fine comic form), whose pithy utterances (“I used to be a rabbi, but now I get paid to give advice”) and increasing frustration with his client consistently win audience kudos.

As well as these four seasoned principals, the show features an ensemble of five capable actors in various roles, and the company is underscored with witty and often melodramatic original music by Broken Chord. The evening’s early scenes are played under a monumental proscenium frame in front of a curtain that rises to reveal yet another star – the stunning McMansion-style set by Paul Tate DePoo III that has a life of its own. Anchored by a glittering chandelier, the setting – a technical tour de force – gets (and deserves) its own round of applause.

Does a novel written 38 years ago have relevant or noteworthy messages today about love and marriage? Adler’s adaptation feels in some ways old-fashioned, swinging between domestic malice and a touch of vaudeville. There is nothing inherently wrong with that arc, but while divorce has not changed – still wounding all involved – what has changed is the culture that swirls around it.

In the internet world, celebrity divorce and acrimonious splits are transmitted instantly and digested almost as quickly. Personal unraveling takes place all the time – and we know all about it in no time at all – so the Roses’ situation has lost some of its power to shock. Likewise, the dialogue around the plight of a woman who wants to be more than a spouse and a mother has changed, as has the concept of “the man has a house / the woman makes a home.”

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Adler’s adaptation shifts back and forth in time, place and emotional intensity – something smoothly accomplished in a novel or film – and so the two skillful lead actors have a winding dramatic road to follow. The scenes of the Roses as young lovers are filled with sweetness, but Adler’s dramatic fragmentation can make emotional and comic consistency challenging. Judicious edits could speed the arc of the play, eliminating an intermission that interrupts the smooth flow of Adler’s crackling dialogue and the couple’s increasing vitriol.

DTC’s Executive and Artistic Director Bud Martin is readying this show for life in New York and elsewhere – a task that will undoubtedly continue. An accomplished dramatic technician, Martin also directs this work with a dispatch that serves the black farce, where marital bliss devolves into a battle for power and territory. Possessions define the Roses, love turns sour and their house crumbles around them.

“How do people get like that?” says the youthful couple as they eavesdrop on an older couple bickering. Indeed, that is a driving question of “The War of the Roses. “How do people get like that?”

And the fact that the question is never answered probably is the answer. Something you always thought was solid is suddenly reduced to rubble, and no one really saw it coming, and still you laugh.

Gail Obenreder is an arts professional, writer and producer from Wilmington.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: “The War of the Roses”

WHERE: Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St., Wilmington

WHEN: Through Oct. 2

TICKETS: $30-$50

TICKETS AND INFORMATION: (302) 594-1100; www.delawaretheatre.org