Len Me A Tenor Sparknotes

Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy written by Ken Ludwig, which follows Max, an assistant to the producer, who is convinced to impersonate international opera star Tito Merelli in order to save the show when Tito is found dead. However, everything is not as it seems, and chaos soon ensues as the characters have various exchanges with both the real Tito, who turns out to be alive, and Max. This play was first produced at the London Globe Theatre in London in 1986 and made its way to Broadway three years later. Over the course of its various runs, Lend Me a Tenor received nine Tony Award nominations, winning Best Actor (Philip Bosco) and Best Director (Jerry Zaks) It has also been produced in twenty-five different countries and been translated into
sixteen languages. The stasis in which this play begins is in a hotel room in Cleveland Ohio (1934), where the show’s producer Saunders is anxiously awaiting the arrival of Tito Merelli, called “Il Stupendo” by his fans.
He has sent his assistant Max to check and see if Tito has arrived. However, Max arrives only to find Maggie, who is also excited for Tito’s arrival. The first complication of the play occurs at this point (I, i, pg. 15-6) as we find out that Max and Maggie have a history together but Maggie doesn’t “hear bells” and want some excitement before she settles down. Our second complication picks up right after, as Saunders then enters, frustrated that Tito has yet to arrive and rehearsal is about to begin. We see that Saunders, producer of the opera and Maggie’s father, sees Max as a failure and weak by the conversation Saunders has with Max. Saunders orders Maggie to leave and Max to stick with Merelli like glue upon his arrival. This transitions into the next complication. Our inciting action begins, as Tito finally arrives much to the relief and joy of Saunders, Max, and Maggie, who disobeying her father’s orders has hidden herself in the closet at this point (I, i, pg. 27). Tito and his wife Maria start to get settled in, but just as things seem to be in order, the next complication begins, in which Maria discovers Maggie hiding in the closet and storms out of the room in a fit of
jealousy.
This segues into our next complication where Tito attempts to kill himself out of despair from losing Maria (I, i, pg. 49-50). Max is able to calm him down though and they decide to drink some wine to unwind. However, Tito’s drink has been drugged by Max to get Tito to fall asleep, and to make matters worse, Tito takes more of the same drug before consuming the drugged wine. The next dilemma starts in the second scene Saunders reenters to get Tito, however Max and Saunders cannot get Tito to wake up. They check Tito’s pulse and it’s so low that they believe Tito to be dead (I, ii, pgs. 58-9). Looking at the play as a whole, this is also the crisis of the play because the problem of the play that must be solved is presented at this point. Saunders and Max must now figure out how to carry on the opera without the show’s star attraction. Saunders concocts a crazy scheme, in which Max will impersonate Tito by taking one of the costumes Tito brought for the show. Max is very reluctant at first but he eventually agrees to carry out Saunders plan and transforms himself into a spitting image of Tito Merelli. The first act ends with Max and Saunders heading out for the show and Tito waking up still heavily drugged and looking around in a daze.
The second act starts later that same night after the performance.
Julia, a chairman of the opera guild, and Maggie enter the hotel room and get a call from the police. They are looking for "a lunatic dressed as Othello, who thinks he's Tito Merelli." During Max's performance, the "lunatic" tried to force his way into the opera house, hit a policeman who tried to stop him, and ran away. (II, i, pg. 82) This is the act’s first complication and thickens the mistaken identity aspect of the plot. Julia leaves, but Maggie decides to wait for Tito in his hotel room and this time she is successful. However, she does not realized that it is actually Max still disguised as Tito. We then see the second tension point of this act when Max kisses Maggie (II, i, pgs. 86-7). They start going at it but soon after Saunders comes knocking at the door. Maggie scrambles to compose herself but she is able to maintain herself long enough to exit. Saunders then tells Max to get out of costume and prepare and alibi for Tito’s death. But then the next dilemma picks up. As Max goes into the bedroom to change, he discovers that Tito has vanished (II, i, pg. 92) and rushes out of the room to find Saunders. Just as Max leaves, Tito emerges from the closet and starts to pack since he is on the run from the police. But before Tito he can even phone the train station our next complication begins. Diana, Cleveland Opera House’s sexy and ambitious soprano, enters scantily dressed and primed to seduce
Tito.
This sets up the premise for the rest of the act as Max and Tito are constantly mistaken for one another as they both exit and reenter the room all while being romantically pursued by Maggie and Diana. This part of the play would be categorized as a door slamming farce which only hastens the frantic pace. Eventually Diana ends up making love to the real Tito while in the adjoining room; Maggie is making love to Max who she believes to be Tito (II, i, pg. 114). The next scene starts after both couples have finished making love to each other. As Diana goes to freshen up in the bathroom, Tito sees Max in the adjoining room as hastily exits believing himself to be mad. This does not fare well for Max when Diana walks in and see him with Maggie. They become furious at Max who they still believe to be Tito because they think that he was the one who made love to both of them. Max’s cover has been blown which ends the entire premise of the play and things are sorted out from here on in. Therefore I would categorize the moment in the play as the climax. The resolution, or denouement, proceeds, as Maria returns to the hotel and makes up with the bewildered Tito, while Max manages to step into the bathroom long enough to change out of his Othello costume and wig, and emerge as himself. Tito and Maria leave together, while Saunders accompanies Diana to a downstairs reception. Maggie realizes that not only was Max the "Tito" that she made love to, he was also the "Tito" who sang so passionately at the opera performance. As the play closes, Max and Maggie share a kiss.
The characters of this play are archetypal in nature, fitting into classic comedia dell’arte masks. Max actually has various roles in the play, including the young male lover or inamorato. He is also Scaramouche, the schemer who finds the most ridiculous way to solve the problem of the play. Lastly, Max is the Arlechinno, one of the zanni (comedic servants), who is the tricky servant of the Pantalone or Capitano. Maggie is the play’s inamorata which the young female lover. Maggie could also be considered an Isabella, because she is Pantalone’s daughter and is also a Prima Donna, making a big fuss about the excitement of her romance. Saunders would be categorized as a Pantalone, because he is driven by greed and is a loud outspoken and foolish character. He is often yelling at Max or other characters and he does whatever it takes to keep the show running. Tito Merelli is the play’s Capitano because of his outgoing and pompous personality. He truly believes he is the best at what he does. The role of Mariana is characterized by being passionate, emotional, and sex-driven. Maria best fits this description because she is often at the mercy of her emotions such as jealousy when she discovers Maggie hiding in the hotel room closet. The bellhop is also a zanni in the play and serves in parts of comedic routines (lazzi) at certain points in the play.
Lend Me a Tenor also has many other elements that a typical comedy has. In Zeke’s lecture over farce and structure of comedy, we decided that this play falls under the umbrella bedroom farce, a type of sex comedy involving lies and mistaken identity. This is a kind of ridiculous situation that we also discussed in class. As a result of Max impersonating Tito, to save the show, he and Tito find themselves in quite a predicament. Diana and Maggie are both pushing themselves on “Tito” for their own reasons all while the police are searching for a lunatic who claims to be Tito. We also discussed other aspects of comedies such as frantic pace. Lloyd Caldwell also mentioned in multiple lectures that velocity is a key component of comedy, and that each joke or point of tension sets up the next one. This play has roughly 20 complication that all occur within a few pages of one another.
While Lend Me a Tenor is filled with humor and jokes, it is more than a farce. The friendship that quickly develops between Max and Tito is very touching. I discovered that the duet from Verdi's Don Carlo that they sing together in Act I is actually also known as the "friendship duet." In addition, Max is a multi-dimensional character: much more than just a "wimp," he wants to sing in public, but his nervousness and fear hold him back. What he needs is confidence, and this is what he finally gains. That being said the play is a definition farce and as I discussed in paragraph 7, have many farcical elements. I thoroughly enjoyed the play and found it very funny. I would love to be a part in producing this play should the opportunity ever arise.