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ARLINGTON at the Magic Theatre Directed by Jackson Gay, Arlington<\/em> is almost a solo show. Featuring Analisa Leaming as Sara Jane and Jeff Pew as piano accompanist and her occasionally speaking husband Jerry, this one hour stream of consciousness telling of Sara Jane\u2019s attempts to remain cheerful while waiting for her soldier husband\u2019s return is performed primarily singing with dips into Sprechstimme and brief patches of spoken monologue and dialogue. With Jeff Pew prominently placed in full view at his grand piano upstage, there is no mistaking his importance in the play as the never forgotten mate whose military judgment hovers over Sara Jane. What is not so clear is the reason why the monologue of wife Sara Jane needs to be sung or how she could just be coming to the realization that war is painful, horrific and deadly for those near or on the battlefield. <\/span><\/p>\n Ms. Leaming has a lovely soprano voice and manages to modulate from cheerful innocence to worried concern for her unborn male child with the implied fear that he too could be cannon fodder in a yet to be waged war. Along the way she gets to question the values of her military family, deal with a mother obsessed with facelifts, respond to a husband whose sexual fantasies about her are disquieting, be repeatedly haunted by photos of atrocities her husband has committed against women and children and more. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Jeff Pew is equally convincing as her husband on the front and as a force that hovers over her that she can\u2019t quite control. His skill as a pianist is exemplary as is his acting talent in the few spoken interjections he has with Sara Jane.\u00a0 <\/span>Here the difficulty isn\u2019t with the performing artists themselves as with the material they are given to work with that leaves one wanting more. <\/span><\/p>\n
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