‘The 4th Wise Man’ is unique holiday play

Grand Island Dispatch, December 15, 2006
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, December 16, 2006

From left, Paolo Andino as Artaban and Darin De Paul as Orontes, star in “The 4th Wise Man,” written by Kathleen Gaffney and Tom Fontana, and on stage at Studio Arena through Dec. 23. (photo by Jim Bush Photography)

“In the 4th Wise Man,” now at Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo, Artaban, a prominent magi, sells his fortune and sets off to find the Messiah, aided by his wise-cracking servant, Orontes. He dreams of presenting his three precious gifts to Jesus, but is repeatedly delayed when he stops to use his gifts to help the needy along the way.

Over the course of the play, Artaban’s journey lasts 33 years, and he worries he will have nothing left to give when he meets the Lord, but he learns he has always possessed the greatest gift of all.

The play was written by Kathleen Gaffney, Studio Arena’s artistic director and CEO, and Tom Fontana, an Emmy-award-winning TV writer and producer. The production is adapted from a teleplay written by Fontana that appeared as a TV movie in 1985.

“The message is timeless,” said Fontana. “It is a parable about putting the needs of others ahead of ourselves, about learning to find God in unfamiliar faces, and about the endurance of the human spirit.”

All the actors are strong, but the most commanding presence on the stage is Darin De Paul, who plays the role of Orontes, the wise-cracking servant. He serves as a comic relief, narrator and interpreter of the action, as told through letters to Artaban’s father. In a sense, Orontes is to “The 4th Wise Man” as Timon the Meerkat, voiced by Nathan Lane, is to “The Lion King.” De Paul’s is a broadly drawn character that occasionally overshadows the more tender aspects of the Christmas parable.

Your attention is riveted to De Paul, even while your eyes are drawn to the towering, colorful and “fantasmagoric” puppets that blend in the action and are voiced by the main characters.

The allegory is delicately echoed in a mute performance by a young boy, played alternately by Joseph Westphal and 7-year-old Henry Wojtasik.

This a thought-provoking and magical production that definitely has its strengths – a unique and interesting presentation for the holiday season.

Dispatch editor Karen Keefe contributed to this article.