“Triangle” melds 2 stories across two centuries in a moving and tragic love story that blends early 20th and 21st centuries people together in a beautiful musical with actors who deliver an intense story with humor, deep feelings and a beautiful, well done score.
The book by Joshua Scher, with music and lyrics by Curtis Moore and Thomas Mizer centers on the 100th anniversary of the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire where 146 people lost their lives jumping from the locked ninth floor of the building to escape the flames.
The characters move from the present to the past bringing the connections of the players into an explanation of what happened to certain people at the time.
Brian (Ross Lekites) is a doctoral student whose lab is on the ninth floor of the building in question. He befriends a young man, Ben (Zachary Prince), who explains the story of the building and the meaning of the placement of his office.
The basic set by Daniel Zimmerman moves in and out of time. One minute is a sewing factory in the early 20th century where Sarah (Megan McGinnis), a young religious Jewish immigrant, works to support her pregnant sister (Sharon Rietkerk) while falling in a forbidden love with the Italian supervisor, Vincenzo (also played by Zachary Prince.) The next scene is the present-day office of the lab student working on his doctorate. The scenes move smoothly back and forth in time with a strong cast that sing with heart and strong voices that do the fine music and lyrics complete justice.
Meredith McDonough directs his fine cast and delicate plot gently with Musical Director James Sampliner conducting a superb group of musicians. The story has humor, potency and a little mystery.
As usual, TheatreWorks delivers an upscale evening of enjoyable theater.
“Triangle”
Lucie Stern Theatre
1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto
Running Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes with one intermission
Through Aug. 2
Tickets: $19-$74
For reservations and information, call (650) 463-1960 or go to www.theatreworks.org.
