A sumptuous production design and a theatrical venue in L.A.’s hip Los Feliz district help distinguish Mason McCulley’s Carole Cook Died For My Sins from the slew of autobiographical solo performances on stage each summer at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

 Best known to TV fans for his recurring role as Ken on the Issa Rae sitcom Insecure, McCulley was born and raised in Alabama, not the most welcoming place to grow up “different,” but like many a gay child before him, young Mason found escape in the worlds of movies, TV, and live theater, which is where he first saw Carole Cook on stage.

McCulley was still a child when he met Lucille Ball protégé Cook, whose couple dozen guest appearances on Lucy’s 1960s and ‘70s sitcoms brought her into American living rooms, and the two formed an almost instant friendship, one that lasted until her death last year at the age of 98.

Still, for a solo show featuring her name in the title, Cook turns out to be a relatively minor figure in Carole Cook Died For My Sins, which focuses primarily on McCulley’s relationships with boys and booze (the latter pre-sobriety), and on the declining health of a mother diagnosed with the same type of dementia Bruce Willis is currently living with.

What works best about Carole Cook Died For My Sins is McCulley himself, his charm, his likability, his sass, and his ability to find light in even the darkest places.

What works less well is a stream of consciousness approach that zigzags around in time in such a way you’re never quite sure what the chronology of events is.

There’s also not much in this particular solo performance that hasn’t been seen and done before (there were 163 one-person shows at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival alone), so what ends up distinguishing Carole Cook Died For My Sins from the hundreds upon hundreds of solo pieces before it are the production values it’s been given at the Skylight Theatre, that and the fact that it’s got director Cameron Watson in charge not just of imaginative blocking but more importantly in shaping McCulley’s engaging performance.

L.A.-based design teams don’t get any dreamier than the one headed by scenic designer Tesshi Nakagawa, who’s given the show an elegant set adorned with framed black-and-white snapshots, the kind of memorabilia you’d find in the home of a veteran star (props by Angelene Storey), and one gorgeous oil painting of Miss Cook herself by company artist Krista Machovina.

Jared A. Sayeg provides a 75-minute master class in lighting design while Jeff Gardner’s sound design features a highly effective mix of Jessica Rotter’s musical underscoring and his own effects. (Clearly not just talent but a good deal of money has gone into this world premiere production.)

Carole Cook Died For My Sins is produced by NON de GEN and Natalie Lander. Chris Thume is documentarian. Kayla Bryant is assistant director. Letitia D Chang is stage manager.

Solo shows may be a dime a dozen these days, or at least every June when the Fringe Festival comes to town, but few have been assembled with as much behind-the-scenes talent as Carole Cook Died For My Sins. Mason McCulley’s friends and fans will have much to cheer.

Skylight Theatre, 1816 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.
www.carolecookdiedformysins.com

–Steven Stanley
October 24, 2024
Photos: Jeff Lorch

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Mason McCulley, Skylight Theatre