An American Conservatory Theater presentation of a play in one act by John Guare. Directed by John Rando.
With: Brooks Ashmanskas, Mary Birdsong, Gregory Wallace, Stephen DeRosa.
Still flush from two heady, early '70s first successes --tragicomedy "The House of Blue Leaves" and musical libretto "Two Gentlemen of Verona" -- John Guare chose to look backward, toward a struggling playwright's bottomless hunger and horrific first flop, in his 1974 play "Rich and Famous." Newly revised by the author for ACT's revival, this manic farcical picaresque nonetheless shows its age, not to mention the hit-and-miss heedlessness of a play originally written in three days. However, there's enough real invention on both the page and the current stage performance to reward a sometimes wearing journey.
Guare's changes include more songs (mostly satirical pastiches that make this less a musical than a play using the other genre for occasional deconstructive ammo), some winky text updates (like an opening "Star Wars" joke), and a significant chunk of the playwright's own first professionally produced work --the well-received 1968 one-act play "Muzeeka" that premiered on a bill also featuring Sam Shepard's pro debut, "Red Cross."
But in "Rich and Famous," the high hopes of Bing Ringling (Brooks Ashmanskas) for his professional bow, "The Etruscan Conrundrum" -- despite its staging in an Off-Off-Off-Broadway "toilet on Lower Death Street" -- go south, badly.
We first hear a temporarily ego-inflated Bing recite a lofty passage (actually from "Muzeeka") to his girlfriend/lead Leanara (Mary Birdsong) before the opening. Then we hear the same dialogue mangled onstage by Leanara's flamboyant co-star Aphro (Gregory Wallace).
Bing is further prepared for the worst when fabled producer Veronica Gulpp-Vestige (also Birdsong) informs him she only chose his awful play because after decades of hits, it could provide her with what she's never had -- a flop to set the stage for her triumphant comeback.
Reviews (including a quote from the real career "obituary" Guare received for 1969 Broadway mega-flop "Cop-Out") confirm the bad news. Bing spends the rest of a very long night bouncing from one failed comfort zone to another.
There's the randy, famous older composer (Stephen DeRosa, resourcefully amusing as a harsh caricature of Leonard Bernstein) who's agreed to write music for Bing's forced Greek-mythic marriage of "Odyssey" and "Iliad" entitled "The Odiad."
And, there's an accidentally re-met high school sweetheart (again Birdsong) who provides queasy pathos. A retreat back home to banal parents (Birdsong, DeRosa) reveals their dreams of glory may have suffocated his potential for any normal life. Finally, there's childhood friend Tybalt Dunleavy (DeRosa), whose heavy burden of Hollywood mega-stardom is all Bing ever wanted.
Director John Rando ("Urinetown," "The Wedding Singer") expends considerable invention on a play perhaps best suited to the kind of postage-stamp fringe space "The Etruscan Conundrum" dies on. Despite revisions, the sometimes floundering, artificial outrageousness of Guare's script feels dated. It's by turns inspirationally witty, anarchic, merely silly and strained. A long scene with the parents comes close to recapturing the depth of semi-absurdist agony in "Blue Leaves," but it too sputters.
Whether "Rich and Famous" really merited revival or not, however. there's exemplary work here from the multicast (save Ashmanskas) actors and ace design contributors. They make this long one-act seem ultimately worthwhile -- even if it still feels longer than the actual 1¾ hours runtime.
Set, Scott Bradley; costumes, Gregory Gale; lighting, Alexander V. Nichols; sound, Jeremy J. Lee; original songs, Guare; music for "Three Sisters," Michael Friedman; musical director, Laura Burton; dramaturg, Michael Paller. Opened, reviewed Jan. 14, 2009. Running time: 1 HOUR, 45 MIN.
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