Excellent Evening

I've now attended four productions based on Dorothy Parker material. The way to judge a Parker play is on the acting. Because the source material is always excellent, and always the same, drawing on Parker short stories or verses. So it was with some bit of prejudice that I went over to the West 42nd Street Workshop to see Parker, playing for a limited engagement.

I can tell you the acting is tops and the large cast really brings to life the five Parker short stories we are so familiar with. Generally, Parker stories are perfect for young or inexperienced actors: one can really wrap themselves in the characters, which are always the stock Parker types (flappers, jerky males, and dispirited females). The dialogue is straightforward and actors can spit it out easily: it's not Shakespeare. But in the hands of this cast of nine wonderful actors, they really breathe life into it and deliver the goods with panache. They're all excellent thespians.

The show, directed by Ted Sluberski, is a short 75-minute evening. It opens with Parker's popular tale of newlywed nervousness "Here We Are" with Tracey Lee Bell and Tony Hale as the young couple. They flit around and argue marvelously. Next up "You Were Perfectly Fine" stars Veronique Jean Marie as the lovesick girlfriend to the outrageous playboy Sidney Williams, my favorite character of the night. He's part Austin Powers smooth and comically rakish. Marie and Williams are definitely the comedy highlight of the night.

One of Parker's most famous stories, and one of her last, is her semi-autobiographical "The Lovely Leave" and it is placed at the center of the show. From the laughs of "You Were Perfectly Fine" to deep despair felt here is perfect Parker: you are high one moment, on suicide watch the next. In "The Lovely Leave" Jill Jackson is marvelous as the hand-wringing wife who is lost without her aviator husband. James McCauley cuts a fine officer and gentlemen, and portrays real compassion in his khaki army uniform. You really feel this couple's relationship straining.

Next up, a lot lighter in tone, is the 1926 New Yorker story, "The Last Tea" with Kathleen O'Grady and Michael Connors. They sparkle together and it's a fun little piece. Connors comes across like a Matthew Modine type in a big hat. Finally, the show closes with the marvelous Suzie Devoe's "Just A Little One" solo monologue. She drags on the cigarettes and the scotch with relish and is superb. It's the perfect capper to a night of good Parker, and Devoe is the standout in the cast.

A nice production touch is between the pieces Sluberski plays selected radio clips of Mrs. Parker from a 1959 interview with Studs Terkel. (And if anyone can get me a copy of this tape, please let me know. I've been trolling Ebay for a copy for two years).

It's a great show and any Parker fan in the New York area should see it. However, I am still waiting for the Parker play that takes the characters into modern day, to jump from 1920 to 2000. "The Lovely Leave" would work just as fine with a lieutenant coming home from the Persian Gulf or the Balkans as World War II. "Here We Are" doesn't have to be set 70 years ago, it's timeless, but what if the newlywed couple were on a plane to Cancun? Hey directors, if you're listening, forget the flappers; I want to see an alternative rocker and Web site designer as Parker characters, OK?

Until the next Parker production comes to town, this is an excellent addition to the legacy of Dorothy Parker.

Dorothy Parker: Short Stories, is playing at the 42nd Street Workshop. The address is 432 West 42nd St., 5th Floor. The show is running Thursday-Saturday, March 9,10,11 at 8:00 p.m. Reservations are suggested, call 212-695-4173 and tickets are a very reasonable $10.

Posted by Kevin Fitzpatrick on Monday, March 06, 2000 at 7:08 PM | Permalink