The most endearing part of the Magic Theatre's new production of Moving Right Along, a trilogy of short plays, occurred at the first preview performance when Elaine May stepped in
front of the audience, and apologized in a sweet way for what might happen during the performances. "We didn't really have a dress rehearsal," she announced sheepishly, "so the set changes might be a little disorganized. You might be asked to come up on the stage, and help us sweep up the stage or something."
That wasn't necessary. The crew did a grand job. The set changes were painless. But not so for all the performances.
Mark Rydell, who's also an Academy Award-nominated director On Golden Pond and The Rose was terrific in the first two plays -- Killing Trotsky, a black comedy set in the Velvet Revolution in the Czech republic in 1993, written by Jan Mirochek, and directed by Elaine May--and On The Way, which was written by May, and directed by her daughter, Jeannie Berlin, who was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in The Heartbreak Kid when Berlin was a kid herself.
The ensemble of actors in Trotsky with Rydell -- Reed Martin, Julia Brothers, and Wanda McCaddon -- were first rate. The play is funny in a murky way, and drips with a cascade of irony and absurdity. Nice stuff for a sunny Sunday afternoon. It's a play about a playwright
who's fought Communist oppression only to find himself teetering on the verge of becoming irrelevant, a condition that's brought on by social liberation, and the collapse of the Soviet system. In all the angst, there is laughter.
Not so in the middle play, On The Way, which is Rydell playing a very different part -- George, an American tycoon in the back of a limo -- who engages the driver, Freddie (Daveed Diggs), in a conversation about fascism, David Rockefeller, the traffic to Teterboro Airport, class struggle, fatherhood, and salsa.
Freddie and George may have arrived at the airport, but I think the audience simply got taken for a ride. I thought the exchange between the two men was rather pointless, and dull.
But the third play,<italic> George Is Dead (yes, our tycoon extends his journey), was delightful, and that was attributed to the wonderful electricity between Doreen (Marlo Thomas -- yes, THAT Marlo Thomas, the Emmy and Golden Globe winner) and Carla, played by the wonderful Julia Brothers. Reed Martin, as Carla's angry, inconsolable husband is a little too blustery. Wanda McCaddon, as Carla's mother, is very powerful. This piece was written and directed by Elaine May, and it's May in top form -- funny, acerbic, snappy, touching, and
insightful. Marlo Thomas still has that girlish break in her voiced as she had when she played That Girl on TV (flipping on Nick At Nite at a tense moment is a nice homage to Marlo's TV days).
Let's face it: seeing Marlo Thomas, who has retained her comic chops, is a real treat, as is having Elaine May in the neighborhood. The second play is a bit stagnant but maybe that can be Killing Trotsky has its existential puzzlements but it's funny. The concluding play George Is Dead is a winner, and worth the trip to the water.
Moving Right Along: Three Short Plays About Life and Death by Elaine May, Jan Mirochek, and directed by Jeannie Berlin & Elaine May is playing at the Magic Theatre, Landmark Building D, Ft. Mason Center, Oct. 28 through Nov. 19. Call (415) 441-8822 or click on www.MagicTheatre.org
Bruce Bellingham is the Arts & Entertainment Editor of Northside and the author of Bellingham by the Bay, a collection of stories about San Francisco and some of her memorable characters.
No comments:
Post a Comment