Star power lights up the El Portal stage in Love Among The Ruins, as delectable an evening or afternoon of live theater as any playgoer could wish for.

The year is 1934, and all of London is abuzz with the lawsuit filed against widowed stage luminary Jessica Medlicoff (JoBeth Williams) for having breached her promise to wed a man less than half her age.

No such pledge was ever made, insists Jessica to renowned London barrister Sir Arthur Granville-Jones (Peter Strauss), and if the moneygrubbing young whippersnapper thinks he’s going to get one penny out of her, let alone the 50,000 pounds he’s demanding, he’s got another thing coming.

What Jessica does not know is that Sir Arthur has an ulterior motive in taking on her case, i.e., the desire to at long last learn why his beloved “Jessie” never once wrote back after their brief whirlwind romance some forty or so years ago, a life-changing three days of love from which the now long-confirmed bachelor has never recovered.

Adding insult to injury, even when reminded where and when they met (in Toronto, during a Canadian tour of The Merchant Of Venice, to be precise), Jessica insists that this is the first time she has ever laid eyes on the elderly gent.

Still, what’s a barrister hoping to jog some spark of a memory to do but accept her case, leading to the most entertaining of Act Two trials during which not only Jessica’s reputation but a considerable chunk of her inherited fortune is at stake.

TV viewers of a certain age may recall Love Among The Ruins as a 1975 ABC Movie Of The Week that won Emmys for its two iconic stars (none other than Katharine Hepburn and Lawrence Olivier) and another for legendary director George Cukor.

Other than a couple of flashback sequences which take the place of expository dialog in the TV film, James G. Hirsch and Robert A. Papazian’s script sticks pretty much word-for-word to James Costigan’s Emmy-winning original teleplay, though Love Among The Ruins: The Play smartly updates the action from 1911 to 1934, thereby giving the stage version a relatively more modern look highlighted on the El Portal stage by Stephen Gifford’s snazzy Art Deco office/courtroom set and costume designer Kate Bergh’s sleek 1930s finery.

What makes Hirsch and Papazian’s stage adaptation special is the opportunity it offers three-time Emmy nominee Williams (of Poltergeist and The Big Chill fame) and Emmy winner Strauss (who leapt to TV stardom alongside Nick Nolte in Rich Man, Poor Man) to make Sir Arthur and Jessica their own, their posh London accents (Joel Goldes is dialect coach) going a long way towards transforming them into 1930s Londoners.

Under Michael Arabian’s astute direction, the incandescent Williams gives Jessica elegance, verve, hauteur, and charm; the still dashing Strauss vanishes inside Sir Arthur’s stuffy but hopelessly romantic skin; and the more we see of them together, the more their onstage chemistry snaps, crackles, and pops.

Martin Kildare and Amir Talai ace the play’s plummest featured assignments, the former as Sir Arthur’s loyal friend and solicitor Sir George Druise, the latter as the plaintiff’s wily counsel “St. John The Divine,” and an amusing Tony Abatemarco’s Judge Philip Tandy does his darnedest to maintain order in the court.

Eldred’s devastatingly dashing, self-describedly aggrieved ex-fiancé, Wendy Worthington’s deliciously doting Cockney mum, and Gigi Bermingham’s conveniently forgetful housekeeper make the very most of their brief scenes on the witness stand, and an engaging Nima Dabestani completes the pitch-perfect ensemble as a manservant and a court bailiff who could each be the other’s twin.

Jared A. Sayeg’s vibrant lighting and Bruce Yauger’s atmosphere-enhancing sound design are additional production design pluses as are Brian Gale’s projections, Kevin Williams’ properties, and Aurora Sexton’s hair and makeup designs.

Conwell W. Worthington, II is supervising producer. Jason Davis is prosecution manager, Phil Gold is production stage manager, and Raven Chatt is stage manager. Casting is by Michael Donovan, Mary Jo Slater, and Richie Ferris, CSA. Davidson & Choi Publicity are publicists.

As consistently topnotch as our L.A. theater scene can justly claim to be, it’s rare to see above-the-title names adding to a play’s box office allure. In Love Among The Ruins, JoBeth Williams and Peter Strauss do precisely that, and what would already be a terrific production even without them becomes a must-see.

The El Portal Theatre, 5269 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.
www.elportaltheatre.com
www.loveamongtheruins.net

–Steven Stanley
October 8, 2023
Photos: Jim Cox

Tags: James Costigan, James G. Hirsch, JoBeth Williams, Los Angeles Theater Review, Peter Strauss, Robert A. Papazian