Theater Reviews: Facing East, Insanity, Farragut North
Also, St. Joan of the Slaughterhouses, The Voysey Inheritance and more
GO THE CHERRY ORCHARD In 1950, writer-director Josh Logan transferred Chekhov’s play to the American South in an adaptation called The Wisteria Trees. Now, director Heidi Helen Davis, and Ellen Geer have reset the play near Charlottesville, Virginia, and updated it to 1970. The ex-serfs have become the descendants of slaves, and Chekhov’s Madame Ranevsky has become Lillian Randolph Cunningham (Ellen Geer), the owner of the famous cherry orchard that’s “mentioned in the Encyclopedia Britannica.” Though it’s a very free adaptation, it admirably preserves the play’s flavor and spirit. And while Davis’ production skewers the characters for their vanity, folly and ineptitude, it treats them with affectionate respect. She’s blessed with a wonderful cast, including William Dennis Hunt as the landowner’s garrulous, fatuous brother; J.R. Starr as an ancient family retainer; Melora Marshall as the eccentric governess Carlotta; and Steve Matt as the grandson of slaves — and a go-getter businessman who longs to be the master. The production is easygoing, relaxed, faithful in its own way, and often very funny. It may be the most fully integrated (in every sense of the word) production of the play that we’re likely to see. Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga; call for schedule; through September 26. (310) 455-3723 or www.theatricum.com. (Neal Weaver)
GO FACING EAST From Tony Kushner’s historical fantasias to Neil LaBute’s violent ravings, theater artists have successfully focused on strains between Mormonism and homosexuality — two cultures shrouded in mystery and searching for acceptance in American life. Playwright Carol Lynn Pearson writes from personal experience as a devout Mormon whose equally pious husband left after 12 years to pursue his life as a gay man. Her play is riveting, not despite but because of its unapologetically, densely overwritten and intense emotionality. Over an open grave in a Salt Lake City cemetery, parents Ruth and Alex (Terry Davis and Christian Lebano) struggle internally and against one another to absorb the suicide of their 24-year-old son, who had finally come to terms with his sexuality and entered into a seemingly happy relationship. Pearson’s personal understanding of spiritual crisis keeps Ruth’s hard-line attitude from becoming alienating, while Alex’s growing doubts about his strict religiosity never become too lofty. Into a mix of guilt and blame comes Marcus (Daniel Kash), the partner of the dead son, who provides some long-sought answers for the grieving parents. Director Shashin Desai wisely never tries to lighten the heaviness of the text — though there are a few gentle moments provided interestingly through flashback in which the onstage actors become the voice of the departed, who remains a constant character in this short but often agonizing play. Stephan Gifford’s simple set design of a graveyard covered in snow provides a beautiful backdrop. International City Theatre, 300 E. Ocean Blvd., Long Beach; Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through July 5. (562) 436-4610 (Tom Provenzano)
GO FARRAGUT NORTH Who says they don’t write them like they used to? Playwright Beau Willimon’s enjoyable if facile romp in the cesspools of backroom presidential-primary electioneering is a throwback to a species of earnest, political-insider melodrama thought extinct with the onset of the ’60s — think Gore Vidal’s The Best Man updated with the sex and cynicism of cable’s Mad Men. Chris Pine (Star Trek’s new James T. Kirk) stars as Stephen Bellamy, an ambitious, 25-year-old wunderkind press spokesman, who, under his mentor, campaign manager Paul Zara (the excellent Chris Noth), works for an idealistic, albeit unseen Howard Dean–like favorite during the Democratic Iowa caucuses. In the midst of spinning his candidate’s record and seducing a young campaign intern (Olivia Thirlby), Stephen’s confidence is shaken and his loyalty tested when rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (standout Isiah Whitlock Jr.) urges him to defect by suggesting that the apparent lead of Stephen’s candidate is a carefully orchestrated illusion: “You need to decide whether you want friends or whether you want to work for the president.” Stephen’s choice not only unmasks his true character but also serves as Willimon’s coda for what lies at the rotten heart of national politics. Director Doug Hughes’ polished, high-octane production (imported from its New York premiere) benefits from the flash and circumstance of David Korins’ network-newslike set and Joshua White and Bec Stupak’s animated video projections. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood; Tues.-Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 4 & 8:30 p.m.; Sun., 2 & 7 p.m.; through July 26. (310) 208-5454. (Bill Raden)
INSANITY In this unexpectedly inert musical from James J. Mellon, Scott DeTurk, and Larry Russo, Zarek Saxton (Kevin Bailey) is a B-movie director who, midway through filming his latest slasher flick, drops a designer drug, sees visions, and decides to make a totally different movie — one he hopes will cure war, feed children and save the world. In other words, he wants to make a movie that will go direct to video. Perhaps understandably, producer Ramsey (a nicely oily Bob Morrissey) decides to commit the director to a mental hospital, and tries to bribe top shrink Megan (Dana Meller) to certify him as nuts so she he can toss Zarek off the movie. While he’s in the bin, Zarek casts a darkly ironic outsider’s eye on the various emotional problems of the inmates — a collection of damaged souls whom he comes to admire. The play’s shift in tone from sassy Hollywood spoof to a mawkish recycle of One Flew Over The Cockoo’s Nest is awkward and strangely uninvolving — and the play’s central relationship, between the arrogantly self-important Zarek and the smirking, humorless Megan, thuds. Strangely enough, the relationship between DeTurk’s unmemorable, smooth jazz score and Mellon’s overly complicated lyrics is not much better, although Bailey’s comical rendition of “You Couldn’t Write This Shit,” in which his character ridicules his fellow patients behind their backs, has some toe-tapping potential. In a supporting role as an actor with emotional problems, Brad Blaisdell’s character shows some depth, while Sabrina Miller, as the director’s self-absorbed leading lady and girlfriend, conveys the Hollywood mood believably. The rest is a comparatively dull opus that hasn’t yet gelled. Noho Arts Center, 11136 Magnolia Blvd, North Hollywood; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through Aug. 9. (818) 508-7107, ext. 7. (Paul Birchall)
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