COMEDY ABOUT EARLY FILM TALKIES
By Carol Benet
artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area theater
Weeks starting Oct. 9, 2011
Vol.
14, No. 14
Talkies on their way to your neighborhood
movie house!!
It must have
been a wonderful time to go to the movies and see
and hear Al Jolson sing “Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye” on screen for the
first
time when sound was brought to the motion picture.
What a technical revolution and how important
it was to create the second gold rush to California.
This change
brought by the talkies is the subject of Moss Hart
and George S. Kaufman’s delightful play from the 1930s, “Once in a
Lifetime” at
the American Conservatory Theatre. The work has been cleverly revised
for
another look at Tinseltown.
It starts with
a dissatisfied vaudeville trio in New York. They
are disappointed with being booked only
in the small towns and are down to the last $120 for all three of them. Jerry convinces them to go to Hollywood to
cash in on
the new talkies’ industry before everyone else comes.
May (Julie
Coffey), George (Patrick
Lane) and Jerry
(John Wernke) board a train and
rush there. Jerry convinces them that actors will now have to learn how
to
speak their parts and the trio will supply enunciation and voice
training
classes. They meet influential
syndicated columnist for films Helen Hobart ((René Augesen) on
the train and
she too wants to be in on the school idea.
Once there
they are hired by big time producer Glogauer (Will
LeBow) and are set up with offices and clients.
The ups and downs they encounter while being hired and fired
parallel
those encountered by the stable of screen writers on the same payroll. One writer (Lawrence Vail played by Alexander
Crowther) so resembles F. Scott Fitzgerald that it is uncanny. His quote on the industry, “It’s the most
God-awful thing that I’ve ever heard of,”
rings through the entire play as it was just that -- a series of
mishaps
and unplanned, topsy turvy failures and successes that drives this plot.
Other
characters create the fun as well. Glogauer
as the stereotypical Hollywood
producer, the dumb blond neophyte actress Susan
(Ashley Wickett), the secretary Miss Leighton in drag (Nick Gabriel),
German
director Kammerling (Kevin Rolston) and the ensemble that plays several
roles
are all very adept. The projections from famous Hollywood
movie clips and the surprise ending by video designer Alexander V.
Nichols on
the screen above the stage add to the enjoyment.
The end
is so funny that it’s important to stay through the three
acts and two intermissions to see all the fun. George S. Kaufman
(charter
member of the Algonquin Round Table) and the younger Moss Hart (whose
idea it
was to write this play) live on “Once in
a Lifetime” at A.C.T., an enjoyable spoof from beginning to end.
Gorgeous
costumes by Alex Jaeger are perfect for the period.
Daniel Ostling’s sets are ingenious as he
creates a run-down hotel room, the comfortable interior of a
transcontinental
train where the desert scenery flashes by through the windows, the
offices of
the Hollywood producer as well as the
studio
where the movie is being filmed. Mark
Rucker’s direction of this play is superb as he is in charge of 15
actors in 70
roles and is responsible for capturing all the Moss and Kaufman
witticisms.
The Hart-Kaufman comedy “Once in
a Lifetime,” adapted and revived, at American Conservatory Theatre,
San Francisco, playing through October
16. For info: (415) 749-2228 or go online.
#
© Carol Benet 2011
Carol Benet is a regular theater reviewer for artssf.com.
These critiques appearing weekly (or sometimes semi-weekly, but never
weakly)focus
on theater, dance and new musical creativity in performance, with
forays
into recordings by local artists, and a few departures into books (by
authors
of the region)as well.
#
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