IT’S ONLY A PLAY


It’s theatrical heaven for Broadway buffs this month as Theatre 40 treats audiences to the venerable Beverly Hills company’s third surefire laugh-getter in a row, Terrence McNally’s It’s Only A Play.

Playwright Peter Austin (Fox Carney) isn’t the only one currently awaiting opening night reviews for his long-awaited Broadway debut with The Golden Egg.

So are the play’s director, its leading lady, Peter’s best friend, an infamous theater critic, and a starstruck fledgling actor who’s booked his first Broadway gig: carrying guests’ coats to the luxurious upstairs bedroom where the abovementioned luminaries have gathered as partygoers celebrate the show’s opening one floor below.

Malaprop-popping producer Julia Budder (Mouchette van Helsdingen) may have a tendency to misquote Irving Berlin (“There’s no business like the one we’re in!”), but if anyone deserves the Tony speech she hopes to deliver when awards season rolls around, it’s this daffiest of theater-loving ducklings.

Hollywood legend Virginia Noyes (Cheryl David) has returned to Broadway fresh from an Oscar win (and a not so successful rehab stint) with an ankle bracelet to ensure she doesn’t evade parole and a potty mouth to do David Mamet proud.

Wunderkind British director Sir Frank Finger (Peter Bussian) has garnered so many rave reviews, there’s nothing he wants more now than a first-ever pan, and in the meantime, if he happens to display a certain tendency towards kleptomania, being knighted while still in your 20s does sort of put the pressure on.

Peter’s longtime bff James Wicker (Todd Andrew Ball) ought by rights to have been starring in tonight’s opus had he not exited Broadway for sitcom fame some nine seasons back, though with Out On A Limb on its last legs, he might just wish the part had been his after all.

Critic Ira Drew (Jeffrey Winner) may not have achieved his New York Times counterpart’s make-it-or-break-it status where reviewing is concerned (or apparently know the difference between Harvey Weinstein and Harvey Fierstein), but his venomous write-ups are the stuff of legend.

Fresh-faced, fresh-off-the-bus Broadway hopeful Gus P. Head (Joe Clabby) can’t believe his luck securing tonight’s gig as coat-check boy that has him hobnobbing with Broadway’s brightest.

And last but definitely not least, playwright Peter finds himself wishing and hoping and thinking and praying and planning and dreaming that The Golden Egg won’t lay one, though with a title like that, critics’ daggers may soon be out.

Having recently reinvented one of Spencer Tracy’s signature roles to memorable effect in Theatre 40’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Larry Eisenberg returns in the director’s chair this time round, eliciting one super-duper star turn after another from a cast who may be playing rather exaggerated Broadway archetypes, but are never anything less than authentic in their roles.

Ball milks every one of Frank’s catty barbs to stinging perfection, Bussian gives every self-involved British wunderkind a run for their pounds, Carney faces Peter’s make-it-or-break-it Broadway debut to winningly nail-biting effect, David redefines divine as diva extraordinaire Virginia, van Helsdingen makes Julia every bit as sweet and sincere as she is daffy, Winner stews deliciously as the critic everyone loves to despise, and newcomer Clabby matches his more seasoned costars every step of the way as the most adorable of theatrical neophytes.

Jeff G. Rack’s elegant bedroom set is another Theatre 40 dazzler as are costume designer Michael Mullen’s array of not just the players’ fancy evening wear but also coat after coat after coat (included those sported by 6’6” Tommy Tune, 5’5” Daniel Radcliffe, and the fresh-from-curtain-calls casts of Hamilton, The Lion King, and more), with additional design kudos shared by lighting designer Derrick McDaniel and sound designer Nick Foran, both at the top of their game.

It’s Only A Play is produced by David Hunt Stafford. Gary Kaskel is assistant director. Paul Reid is stage manager.

Fall 2022’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner and Winter 2023’s Incident at Our Lady of Perpetual Help set the bar high for whatever was up next in Beverly Hills. Fortunately for L.A. laugh lovers, It’s Only A Play makes it three crowd-pleasing Theatre 40 winners in a row.

Theatre 40, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills.
www.Theatre40.org

–Steven Stanley
April 2, 2023
Photos: Doug Engalla

 

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