THEATRE REVIEW:
KPBS AIRDATE: September 16, 2005
What happens when fantasies go awry? The answers lie
in a musical tragedy and a madcap comedy. Though tremendously different in form
and content, “Miss Saigon” and “Valhalla” deal with moments of history – and
finding, even if only for an instant, love and beauty amid the squalor of
everyday life.
In his latest campy creation, playwright Paul
Rudnick, who’s given us “Jeffrey,” “I Hate Hamlet” and “The Most Fabulous Story
Ever Told,” benefits once again from the perfect playpen, Diversionary Theatre,
and the ideal interpreter, director Tim Irving. “Valhalla” intricately
cross-cuts two centuries and two coming-out, coming-of-age stories. The
historical King Ludwig II, the 19th century “Mad King of Bavaria,”
is juxtaposed with the fictional James Avery, a small-town Texan growing up in
the 1930s. Each, in his own way, is fixated on beauty. One bankrupts his
country by building fairy-tale castles. The other steals, lies and manipulates
to achieve the objects of his desire. In a decidedly warped dénouement, the two
disparate worlds collide. Rudnick has been called the gay Neil Simon; his
queeny one-liners are uproarious. Irving has assembled a stellar cast of six
comic talents who morph into multiple, gender-bending characters, thanks to
Shulamit Nelson’s marvelous, quick-change costumes. The play is silly, over the
top, full of ornate excesses and Wagnerian opera; the second act plot twists
strain credulity, but you laugh so hard through the first act, you barely
notice. When beauty becomes an obsession, it can be dangerous – and hilarious.
Finding a little island of beauty in the horror that
was 1975 Vietnam is another story altogether. ‘The heat is on in Saigon,’ as
the song goes; the city’s about to fall, and Chris, a U.S. Marine, is burned
out. Then he meets the Vietnamese country-girl, Kim, on her first, forced night
in a sex-club, and both their lives are transformed. A schmaltzy riff on
Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” the poperetta “Miss Saigon” is a sentimental love
story, forged in the clash between two cultures. When Chris is airlifted out,
in that famous helicopter, Kim is left behind, with her memories and a bulge in
her belly. She’s certain her lover will come back. Much later, under far
different – and ultimately tragic – circumstances, he does.
Starlight Theatre, in its 59th
anniversary year, is presenting the regional theater premiere of the 1991
blockbuster that was created by the team that gave us “Les Miz” -- Alain
Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg. The set and costumes are beautiful, the
singers and musicians are terrific, and the large-cast production is excellent,
under Brian Wells’ assured direction.
So, in your own quest for beauty, you can escape
from everyday life – at the theater.
©2005 Patté Productions
Inc.