Especially, girls, when that gift includes free theater tickets. Which is how, after what seemed an
ungodly length of time (but only since Valentine's day, with the Encores 'Merrily') Monsieur and I found
ourselves on the aisle--that's right, honey, you better believe it, at the Booth Theater, seeing the Lincoln
Center Theatre production of Jon Robin Baitz' "Other Desert Cities. It was a truly satisfying evening of
theater.
The satisfaction came from a first rate ensemble of actors, headed by Elizabeth Marvel, as daughter
Brooke Wyeth, whom I could certainly relate to. A font of confrontation and individuality, Brooke has arrived home for the Christmas Holidays, intent on publishing a memoir, which will lay bare long dormant family secrets. But are those secrets as dormant, as one would suppose? Or aren't they? This is the dramatic conceit that the play, well, plays around with, and when the curtain comes down, it is a matter of interpretation as to what we have just seen take place. I know how I feel darlings; all I will say, is that I think the parents got what they wanted, and I don't think they deserved to. Brooke would have been better off having told her version of the truth, which, I suspect, is truer than her parents' notions.
As stated, Miss Marvel is a force of nature as Brooke. You cannot keep your eyes off her. And
the same goes for the marvelous Judith Light, with her pointed delivery, and wry archness. I will go out on a limb and say she is far superior to how I am sure Linda Lavin played the role, with all those customary Lavinsims that some find so brilliant, but I find just so damned annoying. And unless she has a director who is able to restrain her, Lavin will run rampant. Not so Miss Light; she creates a lovely characterization that never oversteps the boundaries of her script or costars.
A thrill too, darlings, to see Stacy Keach onstage, after having seen him in the movies. Has anyone given thought to hims as Willy Loman???? Has he ever done it? He seems right for the picking for that plum role. Here, he is all bluster and annoying right wing swagger, but with an underlying vulnerability that keeps one from hating him.
"Other Desert Cities" is a finely structured family drama that gets at issues today. It is as
well crafted as plays from the past, but its contemporary ring is unmistakable. You have got to see
it, darlings; it is an exercise in fine direction and acting!!!!!!!!!!
With Miss Marvel's Brooke the standout!
It may not be a musical, darlings, but take a break and watch a finely tuned, almost choreographed drama in action, performed by a quintet of actors at the top of their game.
You will just eat it up, darlings!!!!!!!!!!! Yum!!!!!!!!! Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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