Rough Crossing
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Rough Crossing is a 1985 comedic play by British playwright Tom Stoppard, "freely adapted from Ferenc Molnar's Play at the Castle." Set onboard the S.S. Italian Castle, it follows world-renowned playwrights Sandor Turai and Alex Gal in their attempts to preserve, with the assistance of the unorthodox cabin steward Dvornichek, the relationship of their composer, Adam Adam, and his love, the leading lady Natasha Navratalova, despite the interference of lothario actor Ivor Fish's.
Plot
Playwrights Turai, Gal and Adam have embarked their trans-Atlantic ocean liner and are about to surprise Natasha and Ivor with the newest song from their nearly-finished (or so they hope) musical comedy, The Cruise of the Dodo. Unfortunately, they catch the pair at the wrong time, with Ivor declaring his love for Natasha while Adam listens on in horror. Sending Gal to take Adam back to his cabin to comfort him, Turai hatches a plan to convince Adam that what they actually overheard was Ivor's earnest pathetic attempt at playwrighting. Turai stays up the whole night writing a scene for Ivor and Natasha to play for Adam as real life, with the declaration of love inserted as the opposite: real life played as a scene. They are assisted by the sometimes dimwitted, sometimes brilliant, but always unconventional steward, Dvornichek. Despite many near revelation of Turai's plan, Adam and Natasha are reunited, and the playwrights find inspiration for a new comedy, courtesy of a script by the ship's captain. Having scripts thrust upon them by amateurs is only one of the running gags of the play. Others include Dvornichek's inability to gain his sea legs, until the ship is thrust into a turbulent storm, when only he is able to stay upright; Natasha and Ivor's inability to keep their scripts, both for the stage and their life, straight; Adam's peculiar speech impediment, in which case he has trouble starting and often must continue a monologue indefinitely for fear of not starting again; and a very long delayed Cognac for Turai.
Music for the Play
Andre Previn wrote three original songs for the play, "This Could Be the One", "Where Do We Go From Here?", and "You Never Heard it From Me", with piano music available from the publishing company.
Production history
Rough Crossing made its New York debut with the Jean Cocteau Repertory Company in 1997, starring Craig Smith as Turai, Harris Berlinsky as Gal, Tim Deak as Adam, Elise Stone as Natasha, Charles Parnell as Ivor and Christopher Black as Dvornichek.
