{"id":16123,"date":"2015-01-20T09:48:31","date_gmt":"2015-01-20T17:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=16123"},"modified":"2015-01-20T09:48:31","modified_gmt":"2015-01-20T17:48:31","slug":"community-theaters-impressionism-is-witty-peek-at-art-and-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/community-theaters-impressionism-is-witty-peek-at-art-and-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Community theater\u2019s \u2018Impressionism\u2019 is witty peek at art and life"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 3.5]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Tom Reilly (as Thomas Buckle) and Mary Ann Rodgers (as Katharine Keenan) flesh out a flashback in “Impressionism.” Photo by Robin Jackson.<\/p><\/div>\n

What might you get if you\u2019d locked No\u00ebl Coward and Neil Simon in a room with Margaret Mead after they\u2019d toured Tanzania?<\/p>\n

A witty comedy tinged with a hint of sadness.<\/p>\n

\u201cImpressionism,\u201d actually written by Michael Jacobs, is embedded at The Barn in the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross, where I watched standoffish New York City art gallery owner Katharine Keenan (played by Mary Ann Rodgers) and burned out photojournalist Thomas Buckle (Tom Reilly) take eight scenes and 80 minutes to become whole.<\/p>\n

But their journey often amused me.<\/p>\n

Even though Katherine couldn\u2019t bring herself to sell the gallery\u2019s paintings, and Thomas couldn\u2019t let himself snap pictures.<\/p>\n

Even though each permanently hid out in the gallery because of life\u2019s wounds \u2014 hers from a series of failed relationships, his from seeing too much of the world\u2019s underbelly.<\/p>\n

Director Billie Cox, fastidiously peeling back the pair of human onions, nimbly helped me learn who they were by utilizing flashbacks that shifted not only time but place.<\/p>\n

And by brilliantly using \u201cinvisible\u201d paintings.<\/p>\n

The two lead actors give top-drawer performances, surely not equal to those of Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen in the play\u2019s 2009 Broadway debut but way beyond acceptable for community theater.<\/p>\n

Much of the play\u2019s dialogue is sharp.<\/p>\n

Katherine snarkily revealed a warped world-view by exclaiming that men, whom she refers to as \u201cyou people,\u201d exist only \u201cto knock me over.\u201d<\/p>\n

More seriously, she ruled about art that \u201cgetting it accurate isn\u2019t as important as getting somebody to feel something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas, correspondingly, described the self-imposed constraints on his photographic art this way: \u201cI won\u2019t take pictures of anything that [won\u2019t elicit] true joy.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the two adversary-friends playfully debated whether life is Impressionism or Realism.<\/p>\n

Nobody wins.<\/p>\n

But nobody loses either.<\/p>\n

Before the opening night performance Cox had primed me and other critics by explaining that the show may only contain \u201cone-act but it\u2019s about the second act of our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main conceit of \u201cImpressionism\u201d is that Katharine has employed Thomas for two years and \u2014 shades of Scheherazade \u2014 he regularly entertains her with stories about the coffee he brings her each morning.<\/p>\n

Though the play is officially labeled a romantic comedy, Jacobs, a writer and producer whose work has been featured on Broadway, TV and in film, has put so many obstacles in the duo\u2019s path \u2014 much like potholes in many real African roadways \u2014 it can sometimes mean a bumpy ride.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly a different breed of big African cat than Cox\u2019s last outing at the home of the Ross Valley Players.<\/p>\n

That was \u201cTwentieth Century,\u201d which I called a \u201cshamelessly silly\u2026time-machine homage to Broadway creatures of the night-lights.\u201d<\/p>\n

In \u201cImpressionism,\u201d the protagonists are informed by artwork masterfully projected onto the gallery\u2019s rear wall. And scenes are connected by both blackouts and slideshows of paintings most likely familiar to even non-art lovers.<\/p>\n

Empty frames on the set walls bothered me a bit, however. I was never sure if they were meant to be symbolic, and I found the device distracting.<\/p>\n

“Impressionism\u201d probably shouldn\u2019t be summed up by the following exchange:<\/p>\n

Katherine \u2014 \u201cI don\u2019t understand anything.\u201d\u00a0Thomas \u2014 \u201cNeither do I.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor could a revitalized Katherine be allowed to condense everything into, \u201cWhat if I wanted to\u2026be ravished in a chair once in a while?\u201d<\/p>\n

But she might summarize the show by observing, of both art and life, \u201cYou can\u2019t get it when it\u2019s right in front of you \u2014 you have to step back\u2026you have to step back to see it other than splotches.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImpressionism\u201d is definitely more than the sum of its splotches.<\/p>\n

\u201cImpressionism\u201d runs at The Barn Theatre, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross, through Feb. 15. Night performances, Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. Matinees, Sundays, 2 p.m. Tickets: $14 to $29. Information: (415) 456-9555 or www.rossvalleyplayers.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.ne<\/a>t\u00a0or check out his blog at www.vitalitypress.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Woody’s [rating: 3.5] What might you get if you\u2019d locked No\u00ebl Coward and Neil Simon in a room with Margaret Mead after they\u2019d toured Tanzania? A witty comedy tinged with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-woody-weingarten"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"