SAN DIEGO THEATRE SCENE

"CURTAIN CALLS" #230

By Pat Launer

www.sdtheatrescene.com

2/15/08

Drama, comedy, music -- divine;

How ‘bout some theater for your Valentine?

There’s No Business….

THE SHOW: Anton in Show Business, a comedy by the elusive Jane Martin; the play premiered in 2000 and won the 2001 American Theatre Critics/ Steinberg New Play Award.

THE PLAYWRIGHT: After 26 years in the ‘business,’ Martin’s identity is still unknown. Her first work premiered at the Actors Theatre of Louisville, in the prestigious Humana Festival of New American Plays. More of her plays have premiered at the Festival than those of any other playwright. The contention has always been that Martin was a pseudonym of Jon Jory, former producing artistic director of the Actors Theatre (1969-2000), but since so many of Martin’s plays are about, and in the voice of, women, there is further speculation that Martin is a collaboration between Jory and his wife, costume designer Marcia Dixcy Jory. The Jorys, who have moved to Seattle, have always refused to discuss the matter.

THE PLAYERS/THE PRODUCTION: There has been as much sturm und drang behind the scenes of this theater satire as there is onstage. The lead actor was changed three times. The director was replaced. And yet, the cast is generally excellent, and they’re obviously working overtime to make the show funny and relevant. But the production misses the comic mark, and only serves to underscore the weaknesses of the play. In the navel-gazing, narcissistic world of the theater, a play about play-making is, to say the least, self-indulgent. But Martin takes the exercise one step further; she crashes through the fourth wall with an ersatz audience member who repeatedly yells out from her seat, challenging the play, the cast, the very necessity of theater. As my husband put it, that’s like masturbating with two hands. There’s a certain smug self-satisfaction in the ‘look how cute-and-clever-I am’ script. The parallels of the three main characters and The Three Sisters, the quippy skewering of every aspect of the stage, from arrogant, egomaniacal directors to inept, money-grubbing producers, self-absorbed (or surgically-enhanced) actors to self-serving critics, clueless and culturally illiterate corporate funders to indifferent audiences, even the pitfalls of mutl-culti theater. It’s all about three actresses cast in a backwater Texas production of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters.

It should be hilariously funny, but it isn’t. The pace isn’t fast and farcical enough. The play is written for 7 actresses, playing 15 roles (there are ten actors in this production, directed by Dale Morris). The character transformations should reflect the split-second magic of theater, not the sluggish, costume-changing cheesiness of bad wigs and moustaches. The set (Morris) is aptly bare-bones, though the extensive, side-wall Hollywood vs. New York murals (painted by Valentine Viannay), lovely as they are, don’t really contribute much. The costumes (Jamie Lloyd) are more (and sometimes less) than indicated or required. The 17-time plastic-surgeried TV star should look a lot more like a sex goddess. The plain-Jane should look plainer (no easy task with lovely Robin Christ in the role). The actors shouldn’t have to dress up so much to macho-ize into men. That said, the performances are often delicious.

The three ‘sisters’ center-stage are especially luscious. Each performer strives to carve out a multi-dimensional character, not just a ‘type.’ Christ is wonderfully grounded as the jaded Casey, who’s appeared in more than 200 Off Off Broadway productions but has never earned a cent. We deeply feel her frustration, her family rejection, her pain, her survivor’s instinct, and her eternal hope-against-hope. Aimee Janelle Nelson continues her string of delectable ditzes (she was terrific in Hay Fever and Bedroom Farce at Moonlight, and The Shape of Things at Carlsbad Playreaders), as the rosy-cheeked, naïve, small-town Texan who gives up third-grade teaching because "the Lord himself" called her back to the stage in a dream. Nelson projects a marvelous, wide-eyed wonderment, interspersed with moments of surprising practicality. DeAnna Driscoll is, as always, thoroughly credible. But she may not be nasty enough for the hard-edged, rapacious Holly, whose fame and fortune give her predatory creative control over this ill-fated production; anyway, Holly’s only doing this show so she can get more respect – and film offers. These three disparate types bond as ‘sisters,’ though they’re no more likely to get what they want than Chekhov’s disenchanted trio. Here, it isn’t Moscow they long for; it’s a serious shot at producing meaningful Art.

The other standout performance is by Kelly Lapczynski, a Nashville native and new San Diegan, who absolutely nails all the male characters she plays. She’s excellent in the small role of an obnoxious donor, and outstanding as two directors – an insufferable Brit and a disconcerted Russian. Patricia Elmore Costa is best as a misled country western singer who’s Holly’s hapless lover onstage and off. Cashae Monya is amusing as the tobacco company flunky who withdraws funding for the production, shifting financial attention overseas, "where they just plain old like a good smoke" and "life expectancy is so low that we don't really constitute a health hazard." Morgan Trant has the thankless role of the annoying wannabe critic seated in the audience, wearing out her welcome after her first aggressive attack on the proceedings. If the pace were accelerated, if the character changes were machine-gun fast, this production might achieve the level of farcical humor it begs for.

THE LOCATION: 6^th @ Penn Theatre, through March 2

Funny Valentines

They’re Baaack…. George and Vally Flint are making their annual get-outta-the-cold visit to San Diego from their new home near Chicago. And they’re making the most of their time here. This week, they performed together in Love Letters, of which they’ve been making a virtual cottage industry in their new neighborhood. They did a lovely job with this timeless valentine, just in time for V-Day.

George, now 88 and looking quite dapper, still sports a robust voice and a very credible dramatic presence. (After he retired as a surgeon, he returned to his first love, theater, and acquired a good deal of professional acting training. Here in San Diego, he founded and directed the much-lauded Renaissance Theatre). Vally, who admitted to the admiring Avo Playhouse audience that the last time she performed was at age 17, obviously relished the iconoclasm of her magnificent character, Melissa, and especially enjoyed the fact that it wasn’t necessary to censor all those ‘objectionable’ words she had to omit in the Midwest.

Now they’re on to something new, a reading of Brian Clark’s two-hander, The Petition, which they’re doing as part of a collaborative effort between Carlsbad Playreaders and New Village Arts. The play premiered on Broadway in 1986, starring Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Big shoes to fill. But George and Vally are up to the challenge. Check ‘em out in this tale of an elderly, upper-crust couple forced to confront war, politics, class and fidelity. Monday, February 18, 7:30pm, at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad.

NEWS AND VIEWS ….

… Don’t forget to watch the TV broadcast of the Patté Awards … on the Patté website: www.patteproductions.com. Catch the passion!

…Big Day for Va-Jay-Jay… In association with the V-Day 2008 worldwide campaign to stop violence against women and girls, V-Day Chula Vista is presenting a benefit production of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, at OnStage Playhouse, Feb. 22. Then, on Feb. 23, the same groups present A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Prayer. The performers, directed by Teri Brown, include Carla Nell, Kym Pappas, Julie Sachs and Kate Hewitt, among others (Kirk Irvine and Jon Sachs join the gals on the second night). Both performances at 8pm. 619-422-7787, www.onstageplayhouse.org.

…Last week, I lamented the lame offerings scheduled in the newly renovated Balboa Theatre… and now, along comes the West coast premiere of Spring Awakening, winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical of 2007. Now that’s more like it! Thanks, Broadway San Diego! The provocative, high-octane rock musical, composed by alt-rocker Duncan Sheik, is based on Frank Wedekind’s 1891 German expressionist exploration of adolescent angst and sexual obsession. August 15-31. www.broadwaysd.com.

..Write Out Loud, right out loud… The next production of the inaugural season of Write Out Loud, a group dedicated to presenting polished readings of short stories, is called Don’t Fence Me In, and explores the various meanings of freedom. February 16, 2pm at Cygnet Theatre.

'NOT TO BE MISSED!' (Pat’s Picks)

Fences – stunning production, stellar performances. Don’t miss it!

Cygnet Theatre (in collaboration with San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre), EXTENDED through 3/2

The Pillowman – dark, macabre, intermittently funny, brilliantly executed

Ion theatre, through 2/16

This is Our Youth – disaffected young folks in Reagan-era New York. Unlikable characters, compulsively watchable performances

New Village Arts, through 2/17

(For full text of all of Pat’s past reviews, going back to 1990, use the Search engine at www.patteproductions.com)

Honor the Presidents (remember Lincoln’s last night?) at the theater!

Pat

© 2007 PATTÉ PRODUCTIONS, INC.

For more than 20 years, Pat Launer has been the only regular broadcast theater critic in San Diego. An Emmy Award-winner with a Ph.D. in Communication Arts & Sciences, Pat sees and reviews more than 200 local theater productions every year. For the past decade, she has hosted and produced The Patté Awards for Theatre Excellence, a gala community event that honors local theatermakers (“San Diegans making theater for San Diego”) and celebrates the broad diversity of San Diego theater.