THE BASICS: This rather unpleasant 1959 drama by Tennessee Williams runs weekends at the Andrews Theatre (Irish Classical Theatre Company) through October 9th. Fortunato Pezzimenti directs a cast of eleven. The play, with its single intermission, runs about 2 ½ hours.
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, returns to his home town of St. Cloud, Mississippi as the companion of faded movie star Alexandra Del Lago. After many years of “knocking at the door”, the handsome Wayne sees in Del Lago his last, best chance (pardon the pun) to break into the movies. The homecoming has another purpose, however–a reunion/rekindling with his childhood sweetheart, Heavenly Finley, whose father, Boss Finley, had him run out of town years before.
This is Tennessee Williams at his darkest and least agreeable.
THE PLAY, THE PLAYERS AND THE PRODUCTION: Judging by the works he penned, 1958-59 must have been a particularly bad time for the playwright. This is Tennessee Williams at his darkest and least agreeable. And while SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER, with its subjects of homosexuality, man-baiting, lobotomy and cannibalism, is particularly unpleasant, SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH, with its matrix of gigolo-ism, substance abuse, rampant political corruption, racism and castration, is not exactly a walk in the park! If you go to this production with your head full of happy memories of THE GLASS MENAGERIE and STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, you will likely be in for a rude awakening…
SWEET BIRD needs skilled performances from its co-leads, Chance and Alexandra, to be a success. Despite her slightly too-youthful look, Aleks Malejs does a fine job as Alexandra, melding movie-star hauteur and falling-apart vulnerability into an engaging and reasonably sympathetic character. Would that I could say the same for Patrick Cameron. Although he seems physically right, this Buffalo repat is so “cold”, so flip as the hard-luck Chance that he leaves us emotionally stranded. Our inability to empathize is a major problem for the production.
Stan Klimecko fills the bill nicely as the blustery, volatile Boss Finley. Colleen Gaughan is an unexpected highlight as the play’s one unabashedly “nice” person—Aunt Nonnie. Adam Yellen does pretty well playing against type and the Boss’s tough-guy son, Tom Jr. Poor Renee Landrigan looks nice in a dress, but has nothing to do as Heavenly Finley—a presumably key character shamefully underwritten by playwright Williams.
Director Pezzimenti gets a good peppering of verbal gusts from his cast. He also keeps his actors moving about in what might otherwise have been a pretty static, talky show. Mainly abstract, four-corner background projections on dendrite shaped screens provide an intriguing visual counterpoint to the proceedings. (Thank you, Brian Cavanaugh.)
IN SUM: Pretty good stab at doing a glum, lesser Williams play, with one serious problem in the acting department.
Photo: Patrick Cameron as Chance Wayne and Aleks Malejs as Princess Kosmonopolis. Photo by Gene Witkowski.
*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!