Asolo Rep offers a sterling performance at heart of ‘Intimate Apparel’

If we’re lucky throughout a theater season or two, we get to see one or two transcendent performances so connected to the character it is almost impossible to separate actor from the role. That’s what you can experience for the next few weeks watching Aneisa J. Hicks in Lynn Nottage’s “Intimate Apparel” at Asolo Repertory Theatre.

I fell in love with her character, Esther, a 35-year-old seamstress, almost from the first scene, watching her working on her sewing machine in a boarding house for single women in Lower Manhattan in 1905. The affection only grows the more you get to know her and realize that there is never a moment when you feel like you’re watching an actor playing a role in this production directed by Austene Van.

Hicks is Esther, an ordinary, plain-ish woman who has essentially given up on finding a husband. Instead, she focuses on building her business making beautifully embroidered undergarments for wealthy society women and fashion-savvy prostitutes, like her friend, Mayme. She’s saving money to open a beauty salon one day. Whatever else she may be, Esther is a dedicated worker and proud of her abilities.

Her landlady, Mrs. Dickson (played by Regina Marie Williams) encourages the introverted Esther to meet some of the men who attend her occasional socials but Esther knows she’ll feel out of place trying to make conversation or dance. And we know it too, just from the nervous look in her eyes or the almost imperceptible shiver that overcomes her.

But you can see her practically melt when Esther starts receiving letters from a man from Barbados who is working on the Panama Canal. Suddenly, Esther is overwhelmed by the hope that her romantic chances haven’t passed her by.

Esther can’t read or write so she gets help communicating with George Armstrong from her wealthy client Mrs. Van Buren (played by Adelin Phelps), who encourages Esther’s hopes, and Mrs. Dickson, who is full of warnings. The landlady has seen this kind of thing before and fears it won’t end well for Esther, who throws caution to the wind.

Curtis Bannister, who recently created a firestorm as the Rev. Brown in Asolo Rep’s “Inherit the Wind,” plays George as different people depending on the situation, kindly and romantic while writing his letters amid the rain and sweat of the canal zone, and bitter and frustrated as he struggles to find work in New York that will be satisfying (or does he even try?). Bannister plays the role with commitment, but his island accent is almost too strong for him to be understood at times, particularly during a big fight scene. You certainly understand the intentions.

Esther finds true kindness and something more in her friendship and business relationship with Mr. Marks, an Orthodox Jewish fabric salesman, who is smitten with Esther. Sasha Andreev plays him with such sweetness and sensitivity that you want things to work out between them, even though you know it’s impossible because of his religious beliefs. Watching them share a moment caressing a piece of fabric is as romantic and sensuous as anything I’ve seen on stage in recent years. (Sadly the facial hair he wears didn’t want to stay attached to his face in the first scene on opening night, but Andreev handled it well).

You also get a lot of truth and honesty, bluntness and sass from FSU/Asolo Conservatory student Trezure B. Coles, who is as delightful as Mayme, a working girl who is supportive of Esther but also causes some conflicts. Phelp plays Mrs. Van Buren with broader strokes that create the sense that she is a pretender to her place in society, and Williams has some sass as Mrs. Dickson though it doesn’t always seem grounded in reality.

Van and her design team give the show the feel of an old flickering movie with Alan C. Edwards’s lighting and the sepia-toned title cards that use fabrics to distinguish each scene. Scenic designer Michael Hoover has created a two-story set with a bedroom on the floor that can be shifted slightly to become the homes of different people or Mr. Marks’ shop. Mathew J. Lefebvre’s costumes suit the period, and the corsets and other intimate apparel he has designed are eye-catching.

In the end, it’s Esther and Hicks who draw you into the story and this world, with such honest understanding you can’t help but be drawn to them.

‘Intimate Apparel’

By Lynn Nottage Directed by Austene Van. Reviewed March 1, Asolo Repertory Theatre 5555 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Through April 18. $29-$95. 941-351-8000; asolorep.org

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: ‘Intimate Apparel’ has a strong heart in Asolo Rep production