Play (1948)
by Moss Hart
Directed by Scott Edmiston
Lyric Stage Company
Copley Square area, Boston
May 15 – June 13,2015
With Paula Plum (Irene Livingston), Will LeBow (Sidney Black), Richard Snee (Own Turner), Will McGarrahan (Carleton Fitzgerald), Kathy St. George (Frances Black), Bobbie Steinbach (Stella Livingston), Alejandro Simoes (Peter Sloan), Terrence O’Malley (Tyler Rayburn), Jordan Clark (Miss Lowell), bob Mussett (William H. Gallagher, a Shriner)
Paula Plum as Irene Livingston, the Leading Lady
Alejandro Simoes as Peter Sloan, a Young Playwright
in “Light Up The Sky”
Photo by Mark S. Howard
Courtesy of the Lyric Stage Company
The population density of great actors in this capable production of a charmingly frivolous theater-piece about theater – perfect for any theater junkie – is so great that one almost feels the stage tip.
Clearly this play, written by the great comedic dramatist Moss Hart (known especially for You Can’t Take It With You (1936), and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1939), both co-authored with with George S. Kaufman) was done in an era when overpopulating a non-musical stage play was not any inhibition to its production.
This play is basically a delightful piece of fluff, but it has a roster of great characters and it enables them to shoot their mouths off and strut their stuff.
Photo by Mark S. Howard
Courtesy of the Lyric Stage Company
All the pieces of the dramatic retinue are included: producer, director, author, actor and related spouses and attendants. With endless comings and goings, ups and downs, disappointments and highs, it’s a perfect setup for a series of swoons, faceoffs and assertions of power.
A play is in previews in Boston and its future hangs in the balance. How the audience reacts and how the critics react are of primary importance. Also, of importance, it turns out, are the revelations of a Shriner who happens to know particularly expressive members of the audience in question.
Heave, ho, strut, pose, brood, mope – it all happens in the restless give and take of seductive wisecracks and sideswiped accusations, and though not very substantial in form or content, provides a rich template for some really wonderful acting fun.
The highly versatile Paula Plum (Irene Livingston) as the diva is just great here as comedienne par excellence – swooning and posing, and, appropriately and entertainingly, just full of histrionics.
The omnipresent and talented Will McGarrahan (Carleton Fitzgerald) provides the necessities for the director of the show. He also plays the piano (and serves as the music director of the show), managing to pull off a nice medley along the way.
The most capable Will LeBow (Sidney Black) is the outspoken producer, and fills those blustery shoes with earnest gusto and necessary irrationality.
The rest of the cast – Kathy St. George (Frances Black) as the producer’s wife, Alejandro Simoes (Peter Sloan) as the playwright, Jordan Clark (Miss Lowell) as the secretary – are all good supports.
Paula Plum as Irene Livingston, the Leading Lady
Will LeBow as Sidney Black, the Producer
Bobbie Steinbach as Stella Livingston, Irene’s Mother
Terrence O’Malley as Tyler Rayburn, Irene’s Husband
in “Light Up The Sky”
Photo by Mark S. Howard
Courtesy of the Lyric Stage Company
The pretension of the plot – that the demure playwright will eventually come out of his cage and respond to the enveloping madness – is not entirely believable, but it’s the only thing that supplies drama at any point. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but one just has to go with it to allow Hart’s plot device to run its jolly course. Remember this isn’t Hamlet and you’ll get painlessly to the other side.
Like Michael Frayn’s Noises Off (1982), the wildly anarchic backstage story about the production of a play, Light Up The Sky is a behind the scenes tale that goes to the anarchic heart of the politics of production. They’re both lots of fun to watch, happily indulging the theatrical pretense that such actual backstage shenanigans are so entertaining.
– BADMan
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