Tucson Weekly: Talent To Spare (December 11

A Comedic Reconciliation Tale Suffers From A Too-Talky Script, But The Acting Is Amusing.
By Joe Banks
WHEN ONE attends "local theatre" the hope is that the written play will be strong enough to survive the limited talent available to produce and act in it. Oddly, Upstairs Theater Company's production of Italian American Reconciliation had almost the opposite problem: The script didn't seem up to the reserves of comedic talent that Keith DeGreen, who plays Huey, the lovelorn central character, had available.
The attractive set, by the mysteriously credited "WX," is convincing and detailed enough to hold the audience's attention even prior to the entrance of the actors; but by bisecting the stage it creates one problem in solving another. The design effectively produces two different environments without the burden of moving backdrops and set pieces in the cramped Tucson Center for the Performing Arts, but it occasionally forces the actors into profile, which detracts slightly from the intensity of performances.
Review The play opens with Martin Chandler, as Aldo, acting as his own Greek chorus by addressing the audience. Chandler was initially uneven, but his performance smoothed out as the piece progressed, and his frenetic, everything-at-once acting style was a nice counterpoint to DeGreen's surprise-filled performance.
Aldo not only does the Greek chorus, he points out the story's similarities, even where none exist, to the Greek tragedy of Oedipus. Chandler is able to pull quite a few laughs out of this monologue, and was very effective in warming up the crowd before the other players appeared.
Aldo tells, and then enters, the tale of his friend Huey, three-years divorced but unable to move on. The story is somewhat trite: Huey's ex, Janice, is a violent bitch who verbally abused him and ended their relationship by killing his dog and firing a gun at Huey himself. Now he finds himself unable to commit to Teresa, who is sweet, caring and comparatively well-adjusted. Huey tells Aldo that he's determined to leave Teresa and win back Janice.
Huey tells this to Aldo while wearing what appears to be 16th-century Italian peasant garb, a ploy "to give me confidence," he explains. DeGreen's large repertoire of expressions carries him through the non-stop flow of dialogue, which is not quite amusing enough to carry the play on its own.
This is the central problem with the piece, as there is essentially no action on the stage, and thus the story is entirely dependent on dialogue. While John Patrick Shanley, who penned the brilliant but little-seen film Five Corners, and the not-so-brilliant but nonetheless decent blockbuster Congo, has a knack for surprising, often hilarious dialogue that seems to come out of nowhere, there isn't quite enough of it here to fully make the play flow. Nonetheless, there are still a good number of comic moments, including a running joke in the form of Aldo's asides to, and interactions with, his friends and relatives in the audience. Actor Martin Chandler convincingly carries off these moments. He draws the heaviest laughter of the evening when he's told that someday he'll find a woman who will replace his mother in the height of his affections, and responds by turning to an older woman in the crowd and mouthing, "It's not true, mom!"
Carlisle Ellis, who delivers this prognostication to Aldo in the character of Teresa's Aunt May, continues her series of strong performances this year, having just completed her highly praised part in Upstairs Theater Company's production of Closet Land. The other female roles are not given as much of an opportunity to shine, as this is essentially the men's story, and especially the story of how their friendship is affected by Huey's neuroses. Still, it would have been nice to see Huey's romantic foils more fully realized; instead, the script presents them in a somewhat stereotypical manner, with Teresa being the "nice girl" and Janice the bitch.
In spite of these flaws, Upstairs Theater's presentation is well worth seeing because of the strong performances. DeGreen's expressiveness and varied intonations are a constant delight. One of his takes, a bulging-eyed look of shock and surprise, is held in reserve until well into his confrontation with Janice. Considering the force of the laughter he received for this, it showed tremendous restraint, and also the extent of his repertoire, that he was able to hold back on this kind of mugging before and after that moment. Lesser comedians would have played that look to death.
Well supported by Chandler's Aldo, DeGreen leads Upstairs Theater through another successful, albeit flawed, presentation.
Upstairs Theater Company's Italian American Reconciliation continues through December 14 at the Tucson Center for the Performing Arts, 408 S. Sixth Ave. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday. There is an additional 2 p.m. performance on December 13. Tickets are $10 general, $8 students. Call 791-2263 for information, or log on to www.pfu.net/upstairs.

Home | Currents | City Week | Music | Review | Books | Cinema | Back Page | Archives