lexandre Dumas and the Lady of the Camelias,” the latest production at the Pioneer Memorial Theatre, starts out as that simple love story we’ve all heard. Several times. Naive Boy falls in love with Beautiful Prostitute. Beautiful Prostitute is unable/unwilling to give up life of luxury for Naive Boy. Naive Boy finds self unable/unwilling to give up Prostitute. Heartbreak ensues. But to say this version, a new play written by Pioneer Theatre Company Artistic Director Charles Morey, can be brushed off as just another “Moulin Rouge” or even “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” would be unfair because it takes advantage of a nifty, multi-layered setup to ask questions about the roles of art and memory.

Morey takes his story from the original La Dam aux Camelias, by Alexandre Dumas (not the Three Musketeers’ Dumas, but his son). The novel was based on the relationship Dumas had with one of the most famous courtesans in Paris. It was so successful, its author converted it into a play—which Italian composer Guiseppi Verde then made into the opera La Traviata. Morey manages not only to create a new version, but to incorporate every single old one in his take on this classic tale.

Dumas is 70 when the play begins with him wandering into a Paris revival of La Traviata. He immediately begins reminiscing about his book, and the stage becomes the set for the scenes in his memory, which the rehearsal members act out. But soon his recollections of the novel meld into his recollections of the actual event—we see it in the way he switches between referring to the courtesan by her fictionalized name, Marguerite, and the name he knew her by in the real world, Marie. All is set to Verdi’s gorgeous score, complete with the soprano and the tenor acting out corresponding scenes from La Traviata in the background while figures from Dumas’ memory take center stage.

Sound confusing? Surprisingly, no. One of the play’s biggest strengths is the way it simplifies what could be a very convoluted concept. Boundaries and characters remain very clearly defined at all times. It helps that the story line itself is so recognizable—at several occasions, too recognizable—when similarities between this script and Baz Lurhmann’s flamboyant Moulin Rouge get far too close for comfort.

Probably the biggest stumbling block in “The Lady of the Camelias” comes from the lack of chemistry between its two leads. Victoria Malloy in dual roles as the classic prima donna soprano and vicious courtesan Olympe and Julian Rebolledo as the tenor and Gaston infuse both of their supporting roles with personality. However, Matthew Floyd Miller waits until the third act to give the bland Armand (the fictional version of the young Dumas) any life beyond the script. Christa Scott-Reed gives a perfectly strong performance as Marguerite but, confusingly, looks and sounds like a 21st-century woman trapped in a 19th-century body. Together the two have little real chemistry, making it harder to care when their love takes a sour turn.

Luckily, at its heart, “Alexandre Dumas and the Lady of the Camelias” stops being simply about an innocent, financially troubled man and a woman who can’t give up shopping, even for love. It becomes about the boundaries between fiction and reality, between what really happened and what we believe to have happened, and which of these really matters in the end. A series of plot twists leaves us questioning not only Dumas’ artistic memory, but also to a certain extent, his character. It’s a fascinating, and well-constructed, look at the way we look at art, and at our pasts.

Pioneer Theatre Company’s (300 S. 1400 East) production of “Alexandre Dumas and the Lady of the Camelias” runs through Jan. 24. Tickets range from $20 to $49, with discounts available to University of Utah students and large groups. For information, call the box office at (801) 581-6961 or visit www.pioneertheatre.org.
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