Theory of Want

Steven Spielberg be damned.

I didn't say that, Sycamore Rouge did (figuratively, of course) when the director, who's shooting in Petersburg these days, asked if he could buy out the house for Friday and Saturday nights this weekend to cater for the crew.

Gambling, Sycamore Rouge said no. In a great cosmic payback, they sold out the house both nights.

Tonight, my girlfriend and I were the last patrons to arrive and duck into our table just as things were getting started.

"Picasso at the Lapin Agile," a play about a fictional meeting between Picasso and Einstein at a Parisian bar in 1904 was written by comedian Steve Martin.

In fact, at times, the dialog sounded far more 1993 (when it was written) than 1904 when it was set.

References to girls being no good at science and "Men want, women are wanted" had a contemporary ring to them, although the science comment elicited loud groans from the crowd.

Picasso: But I appreciate women. I draw them, don't I?
Suzanne: Well, that's because we're so goddamn beautiful, isn't it?

Like Martin's comedy, the play was full of wordplay and one liners, like when a girl is explaining how she couldn't say no to sleeping with Picasso.

"The word became as unpronounceable as a Polish town." But then how many girls did say no to an advance by Picasso?

Adam Mincks played Einstein and I always enjoy watching him perform because his timing and delivery are typically spot-on.

After coming out looking very circumspect, one of his best moments came when he let loose his long curly hair to look more like the popular culture image of Einstein.

Picasso and Matisse's art dealer was played by understudy Elise Boyd tonight and she brought great presence and humor to the Gertrude Stein-like role.

The play was short, but the dialog flew fast and furious and there was almost always something to laugh at.

My friend and I agreed that Sycamore Rouge, although cooler than we would have liked on such a cold night, was very much to our liking.

Sitting at tables with tablecloths and candles (and a nearby bar) made it feel like a night at a club in another era.

Walking outside afterwards, though, by an adjacent movie set and the attendant bright lights brought us right back to the 21st century.

So rather than settle for a bar with patrons not likely to offer up the likes of Picasso and Einstein, we went back to her place and drank our wine there.

We may not have had the philosophical arguments those men did about art versus science (since we already knew it takes both to make the world go round) but I think we pretty much cleared up that whole "men want, women are wanted" business.

It's as simple as Einstein's theory of relativity, really.

Women are wanted and women want.

Fact, not theory.