Like its Motel 66 companion piece Head East, The Group Rep’s Go West offers L.A. audiences six short plays performed under NoHo skies, an evening of live theater worth checking out if only to quench a thirst left by what has seemed like an endless fifteen months without.
Performed in The Yard, the Group Rep’s newly constructed outdoor space next door to the membership company’s longtime home, Go West’s sextet of playlets unfold at a half-dozen different roadside motels along the fabled Route 66, and three of Go West’s brief one-acts may be the best of the Motel 66 dozen.
Topping my Top Three list is the show-opening Creative Differences, written and directed by Tom Lazarus, an open-secret-based look back at why Route 66 star George Maharis suddenly found himself replaced mid-series by Glenn Corbett on a road trip across the USA back in 1963.
Terrifically performed by Michael Gambiano, James Lemire, and a particularly charismatic Troy Whitaker, Creative Differences’s look at Hollywood politics, homophobia, and star ego proves so tantalizing, it merits expanding into a full-length winner.
Fox Carney’s Somebody Else, directed by Marie Broderick, imagines what might happen should a philandering middle-aged husband suddenly find himself face to face with a) his weekly Monday fling, b) his Tuesday-night honey, and c) … Well, I’ll leave it to you to discover who’s behind door number 3.
Stephanie Colet, Julie Davis, Lisa McGee Mann, and Patrick Skelton all sparkle, with special snaps to Davis’s deliciously ditzy Sandi, who scores a laugh every single time she squeals, “except national holidays,” which fortunately is more than a few.
The third winner, Doug Haverty’s Stuck In The Middle With, directed by Helen O’Brien, closes the Go West sextet in The Outer Limits of The Twilight Zone, albeit with a decidedly comedic twist, when three young women all find themselves sharing the same motel room with one tantalizing twist.
Could it be that Beccy Quinn’s scarlet-haired Southern belle, Raquel Brooks’ hippy-dippy California flower child, and Truett Jean Butler’s sassy New Yorker have come to Motel 66 from three different decades?
Not without its plusses is Craig Holland’s You Only Live Once, directed by Sascha Vanderslik, which has brothers Rishi Mehta and Aroon Nayer paid a supernatural visit by Michelle Bernath with career advice from the beyond.
Less successful are James J. Cox’s Saving Laura, directed by Kathleen Delaney, and Stan Mazin’s A Farewell To Palms, directed by Stevie Stern.
Though the cast give the former their all, Jennifer Collins’ and Doug Haverty’s classics-loving stage vets and Alex Brown’s TikTok-posting Generation Z-er aren’t given much to work with in Cox’s confusing look at a world about to be obliterated in one big bang.
As for the gay-themed A Farewell To Arms, James J. Cox and Lloyd Pedersen don’t give Mazin’s well-written script the emotional impact it deserves, and while Cox’s grieving Steven appeared moved to tears, my eyes remained dry throughout.
Originally planned as half of a 2020 “Upstairs at The Group Rep” offering, Go West seems tailor-made for the company’s parking lot turned outdoor theater stage, especially since scenic designers Bert Emmett and Chris Winfield have situated each playlet just outside side-by-side rooms, with assorted configurations of patio furniture giving each one-act a slightly different look, as does Douglas Gabrielle’s sunrise to moonlight lighting.
Sound designer Steve Shaw has assembled a just-right collection of road-trip pop tunes during set changes, with Angela M. Eads’ assortment of just-right costumes completing the production design.
Go West is produced for The Group Rep by Brooklyn Sample and Stevie Stern, with Kathleen Delaney serving as executive producer.
Sammi Strittmatter is sound engineer and Hisato Masuyama is sound operator. John Ledley is stage manager and Brooks and Brown are assistant stage managers. Nora Feldman is publicist for The Group Rep
For actors and audience members vaxxed to mix and mingle sans masks, this eclectic bunch of plays feels like a return to the good old days at The Group Rep this month and next, and if only for playlets 1, 2, and 6, theatergoers have more than enough reason to Go West.
The Yard at The Group Rep, Lonny Chapman Theatre, 10900 Burbank Boulevard, North Hollywood.
www.TheGroupRep.com
–Steven Stanley
June 25, 2021
Photos: Doug Engalla
Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
COPYRIGHT 2024 STEVEN STANLEY :: DESIGN BY