LOS
ANGELES TIMES
February
6, 2004
THEATER
REVIEW
'Golden Prospects' looks at our so-called history with
crowd-pleasing snarls and twists.
By Rob Kendt
Truth
may be stranger than fiction, and that's certainly the case with the
under-explored caverns of Los Angeles history, where the spent dreams of
hopeful newcomers are buried like layers of ancient cities. From the Venice
canals to the Belmont Tunnel, L.A. is strewn with half-remembered stories and
landmarks, obscured by myth or collective amnesia.
In
Colin Campbell's gloriously old-fangled mellerdrama, "Golden
Prospects," that L.A. actually has a history is essentially the main gag.
By corseting certain highlights of early-20th-century L.A.--oil exploration,
the infamous "open shop," the budding but already craven film
business--into the classic hiss-and-cheer style, Cambell and company score some
knowing, hindsighted digs at the SoCal we love to hate. Citing the virtual
absence of seasons here, one Midwestern newcomer wonders aptly, "Where is
the moral compass in such a town, without a winter reckoning?"
And
when long-estranged siblings (Max Faugno and Lauren Bowles) barely avoid a
sordid streetcorner transaction, the corner is--of course--Hollywood and Vine,
where "virtue is cheap."
Everything
falls neatly into place on the framed, multi-planed Powerhouse Theatre stage,
under Campbell's tight direction. The villains (Patrick Fischler and
Christopher Shea) mince and snarl at the audience's abuse, while a tireless
pianist (Robert Gates) rumbles and tinkles on a spinet and cliff-hanging
exposition is declaimed with comically baroque diction. (The word
"cruel" is never spoken with less than two primly delineated
syllables.)
The
cast performs with uniformly well-seasoned relish and exquisite deadpan poise.
Faugno and Bowles are especially delightful, as are Rebecca Lowman as a
masochistic matriarch and Mark Rizzo as a seer-suckered sharpie. J. Kent
Inasy's stark lighting casts Dianne K. Graebner's classic costumes and Noel
McCarthy's inventive set design in just the right profile.
If
"Golden Prospects" fails to teach literal L.A. history, its
confectionary, crowd-pleasing artifice proves a natural fit to tell stories out
of school about a metropolis of false facades as much as actual monuments.
"Golden Prospects," presented by Neurotic
Young Urbanites at the Powerhouse Theatre, 3116 2nd St., Santa Monica.
Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Mar. 6. $20. (310) 572-6748.
Running time: 1 hour, 25 minutes.