{"id":5690,"date":"2013-04-14T20:50:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T03:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=5690"},"modified":"2013-10-16T14:26:19","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T21:26:19","slug":"the-happy-ones-fails-to-make-reviewer-happy-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/the-happy-ones-fails-to-make-reviewer-happy-3\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Happy Ones\u2019 fails to make reviewer happy"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Woody [rating:3] (3\/5 stars)<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Walter (played by Liam Craig, left) and Gary (Gabriel Marin) momentarily experience a 1975 version of the Good Life in \u201cThe Happy Ones.\u201d Photo: Jennifer Reiley.<\/p><\/div>\n

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The Magic Theatre habitually risks audience disapproval.<\/p>\n

It nurtures edginess.<\/p>\n

It wrestles with uncomfortable subject matter.<\/p>\n

And, happily, it aims many productions at crowds more youthful \u2014 and ready to laugh and cry \u2014 than your average card-carrying AARP member\/theatergoer.<\/p>\n

In recent years, it has produced \u201cAny Given Day,\u201d a tragicomedy that examined fear and hope through two developmentally disabled characters; \u201cJesus in India,\u201d which tackled and turned upside down the oft-debated lost years; \u201cBrothers Size,\u201d a tear-jerking drama (peppered with spicy humor) about brotherly love; and \u201cAnother Way Home,\u201d a serio-comedy that probed how a family\u2019s life could be narrowed by a teenager\u2019s mental problems.They all flourished. They all pleased me. A lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Happy Ones,\u201d unfortunately, is an exception that proves different isn\u2019t necessarily good.<\/p>\n

The synthetic comic drama falls several degrees south of mediocre.<\/p>\n

In my view, the Bay Area premiere at San Francisco\u2019s Magic was almost totally void of theatrical magic.Ostensibly a peek at lives being inside-outed by a fatal accident, Julie Marie Myatt\u2019s play simply languishes as it turns grief into boredom.<\/p>\n

Before it flat-lines, her creation crawls like an injured sloth, working its predictable storyline about suburban Paradise Lost into a non-crescendo \u2014 despite a final scene that contains the lone sincerely touching moments in close to two hours.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a shame, because all four actors \u2014 Jomar Tagatac as Bao Ngo, Marcia Pizzo as Mary-Ellen Hughes, Liam Craig as Walter Wells and Gabriel Marin as Gary Stuart \u2014 are top drawer as they project awkwardness and distance (and because the details of the period set, costuming and \u201870s music work extremely well).<\/p>\n

Yet all of it becomes wasted wrapping paper for a basically empty gift box.Opening night, \u201cThe Happy Ones\u201d \u2014 which drew lukewarm laughter and polite applause from a mega-friendly audience \u2014 kept the word \u201ccontrived\u201d flashing in my mind like a neon sign gone bonkers.<\/p>\n

That made it difficult for me to relate to the plights of the Orange County husband\/father\/appliance store owner who discovers his American Dream turned into a nightmare, the accidental Vietnamese killer who repeatedly says he wants<\/p>\n

to die but can\u2019t and therefore concocts an unbelievable route to forgiveness, a fifth-rate minister who repeatedly bemoans his being a fifth-rate minister, and an aging, insecure sexpot looking for a good time or a good partner, whichever comes first.In a similar vein, allusions to the end of the Vietnam War and the wave of refugees to the United States had zero emotional impact for me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d hoped to find \u201cThe Happy Ones,\u201d as advertised, hilarious and heartbreaking \u2014 filled with nuances and strength.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Happy Ones\u201d plays at the Magic Theatre, Building D, Fort Mason Center, Marina Boulevard and Buchanan Street, San Francisco, through Sunday, April 21. Performances Wednesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Tuesdays, 7 p.m.; matinees, Saturdays and Sundays, 2:30 p.m. Tickets: $22 to $62. Information: (415) 441-8822 or www.magictheatre.org.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woody [rating:3] (3\/5 stars) The Magic Theatre habitually risks audience disapproval. It nurtures edginess. It wrestles with uncomfortable subject matter. And, happily, it aims many productions at crowds more youthful…<\/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-5690","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":"