Review: Love Is an Argentinian Tango in ACT’s ‘Private Lives’

The tango is a luscious expression of lost love, nostalgia and melancholia — and a staple of Argentinian life.

In the hands of Elyot and Amanda, their tango is perfect: a soft kick here, a gentle spin there, with bodies that flutter close together to turn their hot breath into hotter fire. But when the dance pauses, the fire of their passion turns to embers, reminding them why they got divorced in the first place.

The aesthetically pleasing production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives at American Conservatory Theater (ACT), running through Oct. 6, conveys an irresistible sensuality. Tanya Orellana’s scenic design is its own star of the show, with bright splashes of color that contrast with the darkness of Coward’s heady script. The terrific cast of four is guided masterfully by director KJ Sanchez (paired smoothly with tango instructor Lisette Perelle), who pulls every little ditty of physical humor out of Coward’s pithy comedy of manners.

Unfortunately, there aren’t nearly enough of those ditties to sustain the humor over the play’s two-hour run time. Too many moments lack purposeful urgency. The script itself is a relic and meanders far too long, oftentimes being overly chatty without saying much. The task of a modern production like ACT’s — one in which it mostly succeeds — is to gloss over these deficiencies with aplomb.

Elyot Chase (Hugo E. Carbajal) and his new bride Sibyl (Gianna DeGregorio Rivera) are on their honeymoon, toasting to new beginnings. Elyot’s marriage to Amanda (Sarita Ocón) is a thing of the past, and Amanda is now the bride of Victor (Brady Morales-Woolery).

As fate would have it, only a small fence separates the couples at their honeymoon hotel. On the hotel balcony, love, lust and loathing overtake Elyot and Amanda in equal measure; their harmonious accord as dance partners makes the inadequacies of prior passions easy to forget.

As is to be expected in a genre where social conventions are upended by manipulative characters shallower than a dry puddle, Amanda and Elyot take turns being more awful than the other, all while consuming an endless fountain of brandy. Negotiating the whims of Elyot and Amanda is its own dance for Sibyl and Victor, collateral damage in the selfish pursuits of two who treat marriage as less important than an elementary school promise ring.

While the dialogue drags, the production positively soars in the machinations of physicality. You can feel the creativity of Sanchez oozing into every little onstage step, stutter and shake. As Elyot, Carbajal’s motions are loaded with spry dexterity. (Take note of his stylized pushups, his fantastically sensual bit with a robe, and his command of the tango.) Even moments of the script’s problematic nature, dealing with domestic violence, are treated softly and skillfully with highly choreographed and playful physicality from the entire talented cast.

Every bit Carbajal’s equal is Ocón, a phenomenal performer built for both classic and contemporary interpretations. While her Amanda is putty in the hands of Elyot’s smooth sauntering, Ocón’s ability with some of Coward’s most universe-revealing lines in response to Elyot’s raging misogyny is a marvel.

Both Rivera and Morales-Woolery force their characters to disrupt the chaos that Elyot and Amanda bring, and their subtlety at allowing Coward’s humor to flow naturally presents delightful foils to their counterparts. They are part of an overall cast unified with skill and substance.

There are a million reasons why the characters in Private Lives shouldn’t be anywhere near a relationship with another human. But if this reinvention of Coward’s classic proves anything, it’s that when a problem comes face-to-face with the tango, the stirring and sophisticated dance has always been, and forever will be, undefeated.

‘Private Lives’ runs through Sunday, Oct. 6, at the Toni Rembe Theater in San Francisco. Details here.