Monday, July 13, 1998
Mixture of shows falls short of goal
THEATER: While entertaining, most performances cannot maintain
quality throughout
"The Bad Smile" and "Fear Of …"
Lee Strasberg Theater
Through Aug. 16
$12.50, $6.25 for students
(213) 660-TKTS
A grinning set of pearly whites can signal anything from good
looks to nervous fear to wicked craftiness; it’s fun to look at but
ultimately reveals little. The same might be said of "The Bad
Smile," a one-act play by 25-year-old playwright Ryan Michael
Teller.
Billed as a black comedy, the tale of sibling rivalry and sexual
frustration veers more toward screwball, despite its potentially
heavy subject matter.
Brothers Howard (Brian Farley) and Greg (Rob Maitner, who also
directs) fight over the bland if neurotic Molly (Julie Trumbour),
often hilariously alluding to their dysfunctional childhood.
Complicating things is a sex-crazed therapist (Caerthan Banks) who
alternately wants to sleep with and rear the two young men.
The meat of the play is the expertly written and paced banter
between the worrywart characters.
The stand-out among the cast is Maitner, delivering his paranoid
philosophies with straight-faced gusto.
Teller makes neurosis an art – even more so in the second act, a
separate story called "Fear Of…" Like "Smile," the piece presents
weirdness beautifully but falls short on commentary. Scenes end
abruptly, revealing the rawness of Teller’s substantial talent.
"Fear’s" Sonny (Farley) and Beth (Trumbour) have vague phobias
of everything from children to family pets. Farley, who is
inconsistent and forgettable as Howard, is darker and dorkier as
the childishly diabolical Sonny. And if the plot and arguable
subtext leave the audience baffled, no one much cares. They’re too
busy laughing as Sonny grows breasts after accidentally swallowing
a bottle of estrogen pills. Cheryl Klein B
"The Good Woman of Setzuan"
Odyssey Theatre Ensemble
Through Aug. 2
$18.50 to $22.50
(323) 477-2055
The notorious works of German playwright Bertolt Brecht swim
with politicized metaphor, often at the expense of layered,
believable characters. Despite this, the ambitious Odyssey Theatre
Ensemble is staging Brecht’s 1943 play "The Good Woman of
Setzuan".
At its best, the result is thought provoking and sporadically
entertaining. At its worst, the production proves why small human
dramas are currently more popular fare.
Set vaguely in China, the play unfolds in parable form. Three
gods (Kent Minault, Carl Johnson and Vincent Isaac) descend to
earth in reluctant search of goodness among the ruins. They find
Shen Te, played by Beth Hogan, the staple
prostitute-with-a-heart-of-gold and give her the "Pretty Woman"
treatment. But the shop Shen Te buys with their monetary gift
becomes a mecca for freeloaders.
Shen Te adopts an alter ego, a hard-bargaining cousin named Shui
Ta, to fight her battles. As Shui Ta, Hogan may be unscrupulous –
but at least Shui Ta has a backbone. Hogan’s Shen Te comes off as a
naive, annoying Pollyanna, her glorified values tellingly
simplistic and passe.
Composer Shawn Paxton dots the production with songs, but they
are too few and too poorly integrated to make "The Good Woman" a
true musical.
One might say that only divine intervention could liven things
up. The extremely human deities, indifferent to Shen Te’s plight,
invite the evening’s most powerful realization. When mortals
backstab and bicker, we expect it. But under the reign of these
three, the world becomes literally god-forsaken.
A deus ex machina closes the play with humor and an oddly
refreshing feeling of unsettlement. But as the gods would confirm,
not much in Setzuan is worth salvaging. Cheryl Klein C
"A New York Romance"
The Coast Playhouse
Through Aug. 23
$25 and $30
(213) 660-TKTS
The intensity of live performance is like no other medium. The
intensity of a one-person show can be even greater, as an
individual attempts to generate enough presence and magnetism to
captivate an entire audience.
"A New York Romance" reaches this magnitude, only to burn itself
out after the first half hour.
Starring the undeniably talented Mary Setrakian as Maddy
Madison, "Romance" follows a single woman’s search for love in the
’90s through a mish-mash of songs by every artist from Puccini to
Salt ‘N Pepa.
Setrakian’s fluid mezzo-soprano voice survives a marathon of
activities in Maddy’s apartment, as she changes outfits with
lightning speed and gorges herself with Cap’n Crunch and potato
chips.
The 90-minute medley begins energetically, treating the audience
to a interesting mix of styles and selections.
But the variety fades, as song after song (after song) blend
into one long tribute to VH-1.
Setrakian’s strained attempts to belt out "I’m So Excited" and
"Whatta Man" are difficult to appreciate, especially for those who
enjoyed the soulfulness of the originals. Her gifted operatic
range, when applied to mainstream pop songs, seems
inappropriate.
"Romance" is enjoyable as a nostalgic voyage through Setrakian’s
life, but for audiences who cannot identify with her, it promises
to be a cliched musical journey down memory lane. Louise Chu C
Photo courtesy of Beth Kelly
Mary Setrakian stars in "A New York Romance."