THEATRE PREVIEW:

“FULL GALLOP” at the Old Globe Theatre

Published in San Diego Union-Tribune January, 1995

"I loathe nostalgia." So begins the nostalgic memoir of style-setter and fashion powerhouse Diana Vreeland, inspiration for "Full Gallop," a one-woman show that opens the Old Globe's 60th anniversary season.

The autobiography D.V. is a breathless, chatty, exhilarating, name-dropping romp through the last half century, with memories ranging from the coronation of George V in 1911, to growing up in Paris ("You don't get born in Paris to forget about clothes for a minute"), through "the two great decades" -- the 20's and the 60's -- right up to the early 80's, with insider observations on everyone from Michel Fokine to Buffalo Bill, from Andy Warhol to Isak Dinesen, from Noel Coward to Jack Nicholson.

Vreeland was tremendously theatrical, in her style of speech (D.V. has an incredible number of exclamation points!), in her look (severe black bob and ruby red lips) and in her expansive influence, as fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar (1937-1962), editor-in-chief of Vogue (1962-1971) and, beginning in her late sixties when she totally re-created herself, as director of the previously dusty, musty Costume Institute of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she staged fourteen memorable exhibitions in fourteen years.

"She lived life at full gallop," says Mary Louise Wilson, who co-wrote the script (with actor/writer Mark Hampton) and portrays the dynamic, emotive Vreeland. "She had an uninhibited attitude, a real zest for life. She was a real Edwardian. She lived life with humor and spirit. She knew there was bad stuff in the world, but felt there was no need to go on about it. That's refreshing in these times.... And it's great for me. I tend to be a depressed, negative person. She's really changed me."

Wilson, who wowed Old Globe audiences last year with her outrageous performance as Lady Wishfort in "The Way of the World," relaxed on the set of "Full Gallop," relating how director Nicholas Martin was tied to this production from the beginning. He first brought D.V. to Wilson's attention in the mid-eighties.

"I read it out loud. Nicky and I thought it was screamingly funny... But the last thing in the world I wanted to do was a one-woman show. Too lonely. Too hard. Usually, they're like culture pills... I didn't want to do Vreeland; a few smart cracks and where do I go from there?... I had reached a burnout stage; I wasn't getting nourishment from my work in theater, film or television. Then Vreeland died (in 1989, at about age 86) and I thought I couldn't stand it if I picked up the papers and someone else was doing it."

Wilson used multiple sources for the script, and the first reading took place in 1991, at New York's Playwrights Horizons. Nicholas Martin was there. "She thought I didn't like it," says the energetic director, "but I couldn't wait to get my hands on it." Martin started out as an actor who made his Old Globe debut at age 21 (1969), as the Fool in "King Lear," but ten years ago, he shifted to full-time directing. His most recent local effort was A.R. Gurney's "Later Life" at the Globe. "I thought Jack (O'Brien) would direct "Full Gallop," but he picked me... There's a certain symmetry in that."

The script is still undergoing revisions, but the look is incontestable. Vreeland's apartment, like so much of her life,was trend-setting -- flowered chintz, paisley walls, red doors. The 90-minute play has Vreeland talking to her guests (the audience) on the day she's fired from Vogue. We won't get to see any of her fabulous outfits ("If you talk about clothes all night, it's not necessary to show them," says Martin), but we'll hear plenty of her exclamations, such as "It's not the dress you're wearing; it's the life you're living in the dress!"

"It won't be campy," says Wilson. "That would be a tremendous disservice to her. She was not a shallow woman. She cared enormously about creativity, imagination, rhythm and discipline. She was an artist in the field of creating moods and fresh ways of looking at the world... She realized she was not a beauty... but she loved beauty, grace, charm and courtesy. She was blazingly intelligent, though not school-educated. She was original and eccentric, bombastic but tremendously expressive. She was a real life-force. She's a lot of contradictions. I love that about her!"

On the theme of contrasts: The Globe juxtaposes new and classic works in kicking off its anniversary season. "Full Gallop," a West coast premiere solo performance, plays next door to "Much Ado About Nothing," Shakespeare's linguistically lush romantic comedy, directed by Jack O'Brien and bustling with Old Globe veterans.

DATEBOOK

"FULL GALLOP"

The West coast premiere of the one-woman show inspired by the autobiography of fashion/culture maven Diana Vreeland opens the Old Globe's 60th anniversary season on January 14. Performances Tuesday-Saturday 8 p.m. Sunday 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday 2 p.m. Through February 26. Cassius Carter Centre Stage, Balboa Park. $20-36; 239-2255.

PAT LAUNER is a freelance writer and the theater critic for KPBS-FM.

©1995 Patté Productions Inc.