Los Angeles membership theater companies are so jam-packed with talent that an alternate or understudy cast is almost always the equal of the first-string team.

Once in a great while, however, the “B-cast” ends up even more memorable than the A-listers.

Such is the case with the phenomenal alternates breathing new life into Jason Karasev’s searing words in the Road Theatre Company’s latest, Death House.

Not that anyone on this planet could ever hope to top Sam Anderson’s gut-wrenching brilliance as retiring prison chaplain George, but Tom Knickerbocker comes darned close, the longtime company member giving the man a folksy appeal that belies the decades of pain beneath the surface.

 Opposite Knickerbocker, the brilliant Christian Prentice takes a role already powerfully played and makes it the focal point of attention as Allen journeys from smug self-assurance to unexpected compassion to the devastating pain of a man who’s had the ground ripped out from under him.

Natalie Llerena’s riveting Liliana, defiant and hard as nails when first we meet her, slowly reveals the loving soul who might have bloomed had life dealt her a different hand, and Llerena plays a key scene as it is scripted, with an in your face “This is who I am” boldness that throws coyness and caution to the wind.

The incomparable Sam Anderson makes Death House’s main cast a must-see. The same can be said for A-list Alternates Christian Prentice and Natalie Llerena.

The Road on Lankershim, 5108 Lankershim Bl., North Hollywood. Through March 7. Thursdays at 8:00. Sundays at 7:00. Reservations: 818 761-8838
www.roadtheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
February 21, 2019