OTHER DESERT CITIES: Comedy/drama by Jon Robin Baitz . Directed by Phoebe Moyer . Ross Valley Players (RVP) @ Barn Theatre at the Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. in Ross. For tickets, call 415-456-9555 or go to www.rossvalleyplayers.com.
Runs through June 15, 2014
OTHER DESERT CITIES earns the drive to RVP [rating:3] (3 / 5 stars)
In Southern California U.S. Route 10 traverses the entire State and as you travel East through the Banning Pass entering the desert on the Eastern side of the mountains you come across a sign indicating that Route 111 leads to “Other Desert Cities.” This will take you to Palm Springs, the locale of Jon Robin Baitz award winning play Other Desert Cities. Having spent 10 winters in Palm Springs there were personal reason to see this play.
Palm Springs was the Mecca for Hollywood and Los Angeles glitterati but now is an upscale resort city with the “other desert cities” such as Indian Wells the most likely area to meet the characters with the financial means to live in the beautiful ostentatious style home created for this play (Ron Krempetz). The skillfully constructed set, with everything in its place, matches perfectly the skillfully constructed plot line with all the actions taking place within 24 hours with an epilog set 10 years later to add finality.
The plot has been used in A. R. Gurney’s The Cocktail Hour where a family member turns up with a soon to be produced play script that bares the foibles of his family. Gurney’s play is a true comedy with a touch of discomfiture. In Other Desert Cities comedy is at a minimum allowing the engrossing dramatic details to unfold with the suggestion of impending disaster. Author Baitz is a master at unraveling the tangled web leading to a terrific penultimate scene.
The Wyeths have gathered in the family home on Christmas Eve 2004. The patriarchs are Polly (Ellen Brooks) and Lyman (late replacement Dick Martin ) with their mature children Brooke (Jennifer Gregory) and Trip (Peter Warden ). Living with the Wyeths is Polly’s sister Silda Grauman (Kristine Ann Lowry) a recovering alcoholic. The elder Wyeths are affluent right wing Republicans active in the desert political life and members of an elite country club. Brooke, who has been in and out of mental hospitals for the past 6 years being treated for depression has written a memoir with emphasis on the suicide of her older brother Henry, a member of a radical underground subculture. If published those revelations could decimate the lives of the entire Wyeth clan.
Seven months ago TheatreWorks in conjunction with San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre staged a brilliant production of Other Desert Cities. Seeing the play for a second time within 6 months after that staging seems to create a necessity for comparison. It probably is unfair since RVP is a non-equity community theatre. In this their 84th year of producing plays they have staged many plays that were highly praised. Other Desert Cities misses the mark.
Initially RVP and director Moyer rounded up a fine five member cast to perform this family drama that requires ensemble acting while giving each actor their moment to shine in various scenes. That ensemble contingent must have suffered a serious blow when a RVP stalwart Craig Christiansen departed from the cast two weeks before opening night. This may explain why the timing between the actors was lost and the play lasted 20 minutes longer than the TheatreWorks’ two hour staging. Both timings include a 15 minute intermission.
On opening night Ellen Brooks was perfect in the pivotal role of Polly although she dropped beats with her studied delivery of her lines. She earned complete audience approval for her command of the stage. Those dropped beats may account for Peter Warden’s attempt to pick up the pace with more than a bit of over acting. In act two he did a fine job as the attempted peace-maker in the family. Jennifer Gregory entered the stage on a high giving verisimilitude to Brooke’s mental instability but showed little variation in her quieter moments. Kristine Ann Lowry makes the most of her secondary but at one point pivotal role as Silda who refuses to be a sounding board for domineering Polly but is fully aware of her dependence on sister’s beneficence. Late replacement Dick Martin is a true pro and will surely fit into the ensemble acting mode as the run continues.
Director Moyer is a pro at blocking a show and she moves her actors adroitly about suggesting boxers in a ring each circling for that perfect punch.
CAST: Polly Wyeth, Ellen Brooks; Lyman Wyeth, Dick Martin; Brooke Wyeth, Jennifer Gregory; Trip Wyeth, Peter Warden; Silda Grauman, Kristine Ann Lowry.
PRODUCTION STAFF: Director, Phoebe Moyer; Production Manager, Maureen O’Donoghue; Stage Manager, Maureen Scheuenstuhl; Asst Stage Manager, Caroline M. Doyle; Set Design, Ron Krempetz; Costume Design, Michael Berg; Lighting Design, Jon Gourdine; Lighting Operator, Ian Tillotson; Lighting Assistant, Iam Lamers; Sound Design, Billie Cox; Property Design, Christina Jacqua; Set Construction, Eugene DeChristopher; Set Painter, Ryan Martin; Rehearsal Assistant, Maureen O’Donoghue.
Kedar K. Adour MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com.
