ANYTHING
A comedy written in the nothing-human-disgusts-me vein,
Tim McNeil’s play looks at what happens when a middle-aged widower
befriends a Hollywood transvestite prostitute. Early Landry (McNeil) is
a transplanted Southerner still grieving for his wife, while also
tamping down the demons that have caused him to attempt suicide four
times. Next-door neighbor Freda (Louis Jacobs) has just been dumped by
her more-or-less straight boyfriend (Max Williams). The rebounding
Early and Freda take a while to reach eye level for the romance that
inevitably follows — Freda’s a foul-mouthed Vicodin addict working
Santa Monica Boulevard, while Early is a stay-at-home sentimentalist
stuck to a chair listening to his late wife’s favorite Debussy
recording. McNeil and Jacobs are personable actors, but David Fofi’s
direction doesn’t nudge them off their single-note performances. Worse,
McNeil’s talky play starts by seeming to explore what happens when a
person loses everything in life, but quickly becomes another
hooker-redemption yarn — and a fairly plot-free one at that. The only
fun arrives late when Early’s monster sister (Cheryl Huggins) arrives
for dinner with her husband and son (David Franco and Jeremy Glazer,
respectively). Sis is refreshingly bigoted, providing the only moment
of conflict and comedy. She also forces her brother to finally admit
Freda’s a man — a fact, along with an 800-pound gorilla called AIDS,
that Early has not acknowledged. Elephant Theater Company at the
LILLIAN THEATER, 1076 N. Lillian St., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun.,
7 p.m.; thru Jan. 13. (323) 960-4410. (Steven Mikulan)
@HEART Playwright J-Powers’ epistolary drama uses the
“newfangled” technologies of e-mail and instant messaging to tell an
old-fashioned story of love and war. Following the toppling of the
World Trade Center, idealistic young Harris (Mikey Myers on the night
reviewed — the show is triple cast) feels like he must do something, so
he enlists in the Army, with the wholehearted support of his doting
wife, Jennifer (Jessica McClendon, who also alternates in the role with
two other actors). While Harris is overseas being a hero, Jennifer,
saddled with family debts and a young son, fights a losing war of a
different type entirely. The moral of J-Powers’ drama seems to be that
warrior adventuring is ultimately vanity, while the brave are often
left behind on the home front to cope. The problem, though, is that
Powers seems unsure whether he’s telling a soapy tear jerker or a
hard-hitting polemic against the war, and the uncertain, halting text
is unsatisfying as both. Director Paul Linke’s production mainly
consists of the two performers seated behind a pair of laptops for the
entire show. The resulting mood is intimate, although stasis and even
claustrophobia inevitably seep through. Still, Myers is touching as the
dopey, irresponsible would-be hero — and so is McClendon as his
waiflike and increasingly desperate wife. RUSKIN GROUP THEATRE, 3000
Airport Ave., Santa Monica; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; thru Jan.
20. (310) 397-3244. (Paul Birchall)
ATLANTA
Marcus Hummon and Adrian Pasdar’s brand-new American
Civil War musical never ceases to amaze. At every point where you say
to yourself, “This couldn’t possibly get any worse,” they roll out a
new scene that defies such prophecy. Not that individual elements are
lacking. If you removed Hummon’s music and lyrics from the play onto
which they’ve been grafted (like a peach tree branch onto a cactus)
you’d be left with a very pleasing amalgam of James Taylor and Ry
Cooder’s musical stylings with some gospel thrown in for good measure.
Hummon and Pasdar’s story idea has its merits as well — starting with a
bewildered Yankee soldier, Paul (Ken Barnett, who with good reason
bears the expression of a deer stunned by headlights). Paul steals the
uniform and love letters of the Confederate grunt he just killed in
order to pursue an epistolary fantasy. He wanders into the brigade of a
Confederate colonel (John Fleck), who has a penchant for Shakespeare
and for having his merry band of slaves (Leonard Roberts, Merle
Dandridge and Moe Daniels) perform scenes from the Bard while his
brigade is in retreat. All the world’s a stage, I guess. Some of this
might work if the telling of the story weren’t so soppy. Yes, there’s a
“secret” about heritage that’s going to pop out at the end, sort of
like a stripper out of a birthday cake. Then add a jealousy triangle
involving the colonel and two of his slaves. The larger problem is the
creators’ attempt to exploit Southern gothic rather than explore it, resulting in a
compendium of cliches spun from Faulkneresque literary images and a Ken
Burns documentary. Stir in Kay Cole’s choreography, which has the
ensemble stompin’ their feet and swayin’ their shoulders back and fro,
as though snagged on the barbed wire fence between opera and a hoedown,
and the event devolves into a parody of itself. The performances are
fine and the onstage band is great, but here lies a good idea that got
executed, in the military sense of that verb. Randall Arney directs.
GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Wstwd.; Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m.;
Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 4 & 8:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m. (no perf.
Dec. 25); thru Jan. 6. (310) 208-5454. (Steven Leigh Morris)
