Picasso at the Lapin Agile
Steve Martin
Los Altos Stage Company
In 1905, Pablo Picasso painted Au Lapin Agile that depicts a self-portrait of himself as a harlequin, a seamstress with whom he had a brief affair (Germaine Pichot), and the owner of the famous cabaret club in Paris’ Montmartre where he liked to hang out as a young man of twenty-five with other artists of the period. Almost ninety years later, another artist of a different sort whose much-awarded fame covers films, stage, books, and music – Steve Martin – once again places the young Picasso in this same, favorite hang-out on a certain night in 1904. This time, Picasso is not in a painting but in a staged comedy that is a clever, often hilarious mixture of sitcom, stand-up, surreal, and time-traveling humor with a strong dose of philosophical arguing of science versus art versus commercialism thrown in for good measure. Los Altos Stage Company brings to its Bus Barn Theater an engaging, funny, and fast-paced Picasso at the Lapin Agile as Steve Martin concocts a chance meeting between the twentieth century’s master of modern art, Pablo Picasso, and another twenty-something legend-to-be, the century’s genius of the ages, Albert Einstein.
Please continue to Talkin’ Broadway for the rest of my review.
Rating: 4 E
Picasso at the Lapin Agile continues through February 19, 2023 in production by Los Altos Stage Company in the Bus Barn Theater, 97 Hillview Avenue, Los Altos, CA. Tickets are available online at https://losaltosstage.org/ . Please note that masks are required to be worn by all audience members during the performance.
Photo Credit: Christian Pizzirani
