SAN DIEGO THEATRE SCENE
"CURTAIN CALLS"
By Pat Launer
01/21/04
New plays and old; a week for the gals:
Rivals or sisters; officers, pals.
"The Rainmaker" thinks he's
all the rage
But it's Lizzie who takes center stage.
"The Women" and "Sky
Girls" each feature a bimbo;
But the hippest chick is "Kim
Akimbo."
GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN…
What do you get when you put 17 Leading
Ladies together on one stage? The funny, classic, claw-each-other's eyes-out
Claire Boothe Luce play, "The Women." It's dated, in some
ways, but when you've got powerful females up there in these catty roles, watch
out! They'll tear each other to pieces, in the name of friendship. And get
divorced in droves, only to steal each other's men. Lovely portrait -- of women
at their worst. But the 1939 flick is unforgettable, and Ole Kittelson had a
great idea to make it local and personal. He gathered together some of San
Diego's best, for two nights of High Drama back-biting that raised the roof and
raised money for 6th @ Penn Theatre. What a trip! The staged reading
was generally unfussy (though there was more movement of the boxes and benches
than was needed). The ensemble and interactions were delicious. The cast may
have been variable, but all the heavy-hitters were a hoot! Sandra Ellis-Troy
was hysterical as the Queen Bitch, beautifully offset by Rosina Reynolds'
quiet, rock-solid performance as Mary, the one (seemingly) sane voice amid the
estrogen-fueled cacophony. Priscilla Allen was great as her mom, and Shannon
Partrick was super as her little girl.
Jennifer Austin was adorable as the naïve newlywed, Kathi Diamant
delightful as the actress, Dana Hooley amusing as the perpetual preggo and Pat
DiMeo funny as the clueless Countess. Candis Paule made an excellent cynic and
Leigh Scarritt was glorious as the blonde bombshell. On the second night, when
I was there, Jenni Prisk was the Narrator and she brought unexpected humor to a
sometimes thankless role. What a night!
THE WILD BLUE YONDER…
A good story doesn't necessarily make
for good drama. Playwright Jenny Laird had a fine idea, to dramatize an obscure
chapter of WWII history -- the Women Airforce Service Pilots program, which
trained about 1100 females to fly military aircraft. The WASPs were
unfortunately treated like second class citizens, always as civilians, never
accorded military status. And, if the
play is to be believed, they were repeatedly sabotaged by their male
counterparts (poorly maintained craft, sugar in the fuel tank, etc.). The force behind the program was Jacqueline
Cochran, a real-life, record-breaking powerhouse pilot who initiated the
training plan and went before Congress to get the gals militarized. Instead of
succumbing to her articulate plea, Congress voted to shut down the whole
program.
Laird's play, "Sky Girls," was commissioned by Chicago's Northlight
Theatre, where it premiered last year,
in a different form. The piece is fictional, focusing on five cadets as they
strive to earn their wings. And Cochran features prominently, as does her
Congressional testimony.
In 1944, on an Army Air Force base in
the dusty town of Sweetwater, Texas, the final class of WASP trainees is put
through their paces. Much of their time is spent getting in and out of their
harnesses. The rest is lying about on their cots, teasing and joking like
sorority sisters. Each character is from a different part of the country --
rural, urban, suburban. They are Types and they are cardboard. We don't learn
much about any of them -- just one tidbit that characterizes each: one's
nose-to-the-grindstone. Another's a silent poet, and there's a man-crazy naïf
and a loud-mouthed rabble-rouser who's by far the most interesting of all,
played with tremendous spunk by Sarah Rafferty (wonderful in "Collected
Stories" at the Old Globe in 1999).
The actors are fine, and the direction
by Brendon Fox (except for the repeated, superfluous rearrangement of the set's
Army cots) worked fine on the Cassius Carter arena stage; a little whimsy in
the precision moves). But the play is flat, repetitive, overly long and
didactic. And we really don't care much about any of these women; we remain
emotionally disengaged. As presented, the material seems better suited to an
essay than a drama. In fact, at times, it feels like an essay. There's very
little dramatic arc, though we do follow the course of the Congressional
hearing presentation by Cochran (nicely played by Judith Hawking), but those
segments stop the action (what there is of it) dead in its tracks. The gals get
their wings, but then those wings get clipped when Congress obliterates the
program. That's the whole plotline. There's little dramatic conflict, and
little reason to stay with all the little side-stories that generally go
nowhere (the impending wedding, the Japanese boyfriend). The sound design (by
Lindsay Jones), is excellent, and the lighting design (Jennifer Setlow) is
equally evocative. But unlike its airborne characters, the play never really
gets off the ground.
THE OLD MAN IS SNORING…
'Spinster' and 'Old Maid' are terms you
don't hear too much nowadays. But they figure prominently in the story of
Lizzie Curry, a plain-Jane who lives on a farm in 'a Western state' with her
father and two brothers -- all of whom are desperate to get her married. They
try sending her off to another town for the weekend, they invite the new
assistant sheriff over to dinner. But nothing seems to work. Things are dry in
LoveLand for Lizzie and outside the cattle are dying from the drought.
In N. Richard Nash's "The
Rainmaker," everything changes when the title character enters the scene.
Created in 1954, Starbuck (the Rainmaker) has every personality trait of
Professor Harold Hill. Though that character officially emerged in "The
Music Man" in 1957, the show was eight years in the making… so which
scamming seller of hope and dreams really came first? Well, no matter. Conmen
never go out of style. And the best of 'em bring enchantment and self-discovery
(though they often leave a big mess behind). So everyone gets what s/he wants:
the cattle get rain, and brother Jimmy gets his red-hatted (offstage) Snookie,
and Lizzie gets someone to think she's beautiful, which makes her
believe it too, and that changes her life. It's all sweet, old-fashioned,
romantic -- and capably done at North Coast Repertory Theatre.
San Diego newcomer Jeffrey Ingman has
cast well and directed with a sure hand (he has multi-state and multi-style
credits). Marty Burnett's set has a nice, dusty Western feel, as do Jannifer
Mah's costumes and Chris Rynne's lighting. Jonathan Dunn-Rankin is a warmly
paternalistic Dad, but his accent sounds more New England than Big Sky. Craig
Huisenga is formidable as negative/cynical brother Noah. Wayne Jordan and Robert MacAulay are quite
credible as the Sheriff and his assistant. Brennan Taylor is a sheer delight as
Jimmy, the energetic but supposedly not-too-bright younger brother of the
delicious Julie Jacobs, who wraps herself into this role and makes it sing
(even though this isn't the musical version of the story, the 1963 "110 in
the Shade"). It's kind of hard for the great-looking Jacobs to appear
plain, but she does her best -- and she's charming when she tries to act like
those 'other girls' who flirt and lie shamelessly to snag a man. The
charismatic center of the piece should be Bill Starbuck. Joe Powers does a
solid job, but he isn't sufficiently magnetic and irresistible. He talks a good
game, though, and you can see how Lizzie might get Star-struck. There's an
interesting underlying message here; it's important to have dreams and
fantasies, but you can't live on those alone. Moderation in all things: a very
'50s notion all around.
PUTTING THE 'FUN' BACK IN DYSFUNCTIONAL
There are eccentrics, there are
Diseases of the Month, there are families from hell. There are geeks and misfits,
alcoholics and hypochondriacs, ex-cons and inadvertent murderers. And they're
all present, in glorious array, in David Lindsay-Abaire's "Kimberly
Akimbo." The playwright went a little too far into LaLaLand in his
"Fuddy Meers" (which ran at North Coast Rep in 2001) but this dark
comedy, though wild and wacko as well, manages to contain both humor and heart.
Director Delicia Turner Sonnenberg gets to showcase her impressive expertise --
in casting, timing and mining emotional depths. And her company, without
exception, rises magnificently to the occasion.
This is a spectacular production. The
pace is perfect. Turner Sonnenberg maintains a glorious balance between sharp,
edgy humor and poignant depth of character. We really get to know and care about
these nutty folks.
Kimberly has a form of progeria, a
congenital condition that makes her body age 4 1/2 times faster than average.
The life expectancy for sufferers is 16, and we meet Kim on her post-menopausal
16th birthday, which her family has conveniently forgotten. They're
in heavy denial; they've even tried starting the family over, in somewhat
disingenuous ways.
This household is quite a menagerie.
The father is a drink-addled breaker of promises. The mom's a self-pitying, pill-popping hypochondriac who's pregnant
and totally dependent, both hands covered in bandages from carpal tunnel
surgery. The intriguingly certifiable aunt is on the lam and planning another
scam. And then there's Kim's schoolmate Jeff, a nerdy word-freak and player of
fantasy games who spontaneously, instantaneously creates an anagram out of the
name of everyone he meets. 'Kimberly Levaco' is immediately rearranged as
'Cleverly Akimbo.' And indeed she is. She faces her crumbling world with wit,
intelligence and a sort of determined belligerence. Ironically, her abnormally
accelerated physical growth is paralleled by the declining maturity of those
around her. And Jeff comes to represent the scariest prospect of all -- first
love. What a delicious series of scenes and interactions, ingeniously spun out
and played out in front of us, thanks to Jerry Sonnenberg's marvelous,
malleable turntable set.
And the performances! Matt Scott is an
amiably spacey, pathetic dreamer as the Dad, and Jo Anne Glover is a delectably
self-serving whiner as the Mom. Liv Kellgren brings fast-talk and ultra-high
energy to the hyperactive aunt, and Jason Connors is uproarious as the smart
but dorky Jeff. In both her character and her performance, Linda Castro anchors
the piece, with her quippy introspection, parental wisecracks and intelligent
exploration of life and love.
Everything about this show is
irresistible. And quirky. And fun. You'll laugh till you cry. And unexpectedly,
you'll grow to feel deeply for this wild bunch of blue collar New Jerseyites
just trying, like all of us, to scratch out some semblance of a life worth
living. The characters may be crazy, but you'd be even more nuts to miss this
show!
PATTÉ SPREAD ON TV
If you missed it this week, you can
still check out the 7th Annual Patté Awards for Theater Excellence
-- on KPBS-TV, channel 15/cable 11:
Saturday, January 24 at 11:30pm (a perfect post-theater time)
THIS WEEK'S 'DON'T MISS' LIST
"Kimberly Akimbo" -- spectacular production; hilarious, poignant, incredibly well acted
and directed; at 6th @ Penn Theatre, through Feb. 22
"Mothers" -- Beautiful, heartbreaking and wildly imaginative. Eveoke Dance
Theatre's latest provocation to sit up and think -- about parenthood and about
loss. In repertory with Ricardo Peralta Danza Performa's "Camila's
Story," through February 1.
©2004
Patté Productions Inc.