LOS ANGELES TIMES
February 27, 2004
Darkness is light and sunny
in this 'World'
A newly liberated wife
goes on a wacky journey of discovery in David Lindsay-Abaire's funny, crackling
comedy.
by Rob Kendt
"I don't want a scene," claims dutiful Brooklyn wife
Cass as she abruptly leaves husband Kip in the opening scene of David
Lindsay-Abaire's kicky, uproarious "Wonder of the World."
Yeah, right: Liberated Cass quickly becomes a blissfully brazen
adventurer, with a to-do list she's put off during her stultifying marriage--from
the willful ("Find a sidekick") to the eccentric ("Become
friends with a clown") to the extreme ("Go parachuting"). By
play's end she's checked off several items and assembled a motley crew of mixed
nuts in her Niagara Falls hotel room for a scene to end all scenes.
Whiplashing deftly from sick jokes to searching drama, playwright
Lindsay-Abaire ("Fuddy Meers," "Kimberly Akimbo") rubs
together cruelty and deformity, death and dysfunction, till they strike comic
sparks. The breezy, even sunny tone of his dark comedies resembles Christopher
Durang, minus the rancor.
In West Coast Ensemble's crackling new local premiere, director
Richard Israel hits just the right light, bright tone, and he has an ideal cast
executing the play's matter-of-fact mayhem across Will Pellegrini's witty,
postcard-painted set.
As the fearless but not quite unfettered Cass, Madelynn Fattibene
has a lovely, tentative smile and perfectly endearing deadpan. Cass may be
clueless, but her real challenge, she comes to realize, is to give up looking
for clues.
Indeed, that's essentially everyone's journey here. A bitter drunk
(the hilariously dour Jan Sheldrick), a daft tour-boat captain (Robert
Gantzos), an odd-jobbing older couple (Larry Lederman and Margaret Silbar), the
nerdily needy Kip (Stef Tovar) and a series of outsized supporting characters (the
brilliant Angeles Vara)--all cling to private signifiers that prove inadequate
or mistaken, even destructive.
True epiphanies may elude these hapless seekers. But "Wonder
of the World" is itself a minor comic epiphany--cracked, crisp and
strangely sweet.
*
'Wonder of the World'
Where: West Coast Ensemble, 522 N. La Brea Ave., Hollywood
When: Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m.
Ends: April 11
Price: $20
Contact: (323) 525-0022
Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes