|
ROCKET TO THE MOON Send This Review to a Friend
Seeing a work by Clifford Odets is always occasion, and the revival of his 1938 “Rocket to the Moon” invites a fresh evaluation. The staging, presented by The Peccadillo Theater Company, in association with La Femme Theatre Productions, is directed by Dan Wackerman, who has assembled a cast that tries hard to dig into what Odets was getting at, primarily a portrait of people trying to find a path to happiness in their lives.
The setting is the waiting room of a suite of dental offices in mid-town Manhattan during 1938, when America was still struggling with the Great Depression. The central character is dentist Ben Stark, perceptively played by Ned Eisenberg, who has been plodding along in a marriage that may have been fulfilling once, but is clearly, like his life in general, at a dead end. His wife, Belle, played with passion and outbursts of venom by Marilyn Matarrese, is clearly a ball-buster, who bosses him around, but also is a desperate woman who feels being cast aside, especially when she senses that an attractive young woman named Cleo Singer (Kate McClellan), her husband’s secretary, is an imminent threat.
As Cleo, McClellan cuts an intriguing figure, full of life and very perky, conveying an independent spirit and wanting something more in her future. Cleo has her pretenses, as we learn, but she doesn’t want to be taken for granted. Ben falls hard for her, and she represents a breath of fresh air in his stagnant life, but he isn’t the type who can easily break with the status quo and establish a new life with this younger vibrant woman. A problem in the writing is that it is difficult to imagine that things can happen that fast. Also Cleo comes across as a bit too flakey to mesmerize Ben so totally. It is a very colorful and enjoyable performance, perhaps too colorful rather than more in depth.
Jonathan Hadary has a flamboyantl role as Mr. Prince, Ben’s father-in-law, who hates his daughter and isn’t on speaking terms with her. Prince complicates matters by also falling in love with Cleo, setting up a conflict with Ben. Cleo considers Prince much too old for her. Odets has given Prince some elaborate speeches about life and the need to enjoy it, the sort of dialogue he also provides Ben at a climactic moment.
Supporting characters include Lou Liberatore as slimy Willy Wax, who wants to seduce Cleo with promises of helping her desire to perhaps go into show business. Larry Bull plays Phil Cooper, another dentist, and he has a major speech about the struggle to survive in the depression. It would seem that Bull is meant to convey the playwright’s intense feeling that comes closest to his political views. However, Cooper’s demeanor is so quirky that it undercuts the ability to feel deeply for him, as I believe we should when he pours out his soul. The other character is Walter “Frenchy” Jensen (Michael Keyloun), a dental manager who keeps popping in.
The play’s title symbolizes the idea of taking a risk in life and breaking free to travel a path to happiness. The characters devised by Odets provide actors with the opportunity to grab our attention. However, so much is jammed into the plot that we are asked to accept all that happens without worrying about credibility. The points are made, but this is is not the best work of Odets. Still, it is fascinating to see what he conceived in this period of his life, and the cast members certainly give it their all. At Theatre at St. Clement’s, 423 West 46th Street. Reviewed February 24, 2015.
|