The Rose Tattoo

The Rose Tattoo

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

September 21, 2019

Photo courtesy of
Roundabout Theatre Company

Marisa Tomei is passionate and tempestuous in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of The Rose Tattoo.  Director Trip Cullman finds the rhythms and longings in Tennessee Williams’ writing.  He builds the action of the play to the stunning realization for the main character as she releases the past and opens her heart.  The original music by Fitz Patton and Jason Michael Webb sets the perfect tone throughout the play.  The composition and vocals allow time to  process and absorb the events of the story, as they connect the poignant moments.

It is1950 in a small Gulf Coast town.  Serafina (played by Marisa Tomei) is a Sicilian woman, passionately in love with her husband.  Together they have one daughter, Rose (played by Ella Rubin).  Serafina wakes from a dream one night and envisions her husband’s rose tattoo on her breast.  At that moment she knows she has conceived a son.  When her husband does not return from work, the women of the town come to tell her he has been killed.  The shock causes her to lose the baby.  Three years pass.  Seraphina keeps her husband’s ashes in an urn on a shelf, and holds on tight to her daughter’s innocence.  She prays to the Blessed Mother for help and send a sign of how to handle her daughter’s growing up.  Alvaro Mangiacavallo (played by Emun Elliott), a truck driver passing through, winds up at her door.  He has the body of her husband and the face of a clown.  Is this the sign Serafina was praying for?  What will it take for her to open her heart again?

Marisa Tomei as Searfina
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Emun Elliott and Marisa Tomei have a powerful chemistry.  They find the humorous moments in Tennessee Williams writing, then dive deeply into the fire.  The second act is rich in emotion, discovery, pain, and joy.  Ella Rubin also shares a beautiful chemistry with her love interest, played by Burke Swanson.  She is bold and forthcoming, while he is reserved and respectful.  This plays out in wonderfully tender and sincere moments.

The entire ensemble works magnificently together to create a close-knit community.  The set design by Mark Wendland and lighting design by Ben Stanton evoke a warm, open, and run-down beach front home, complete with a stage covered in a foot of sand.

The Rose Tattoo is playing at the American Airline Theatre through December 8.  This production brings the poetry and passion of this Tennessee Williams work beautifully to life on a large scale.  The performances are magnificent!

Domenick Danza