Theater Review - O Beautiful

O Beautiful

written by Theresa Rebeck

Directed by Sanford Robbins

Where:  Thompson Theater at the Roselle Center for the Arts

(University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware)

(It should be noted that this "review" contains some moderate spoilers...although most of the things I discuss were discussed in a New York Times article that can be read here.  It should also be noted that I ramble like crazy in my thoughts below...)

First things first -- It is an incredibly fitting end to the University of Delaware's Resident Ensemble Players and Professional Theater Training Program three-year cycle and ten play season to perform a play that features seventeen of the talented actors of both groups.  To see them up on stage all together was a true treat and it's what makes this repertory company incredibly special and a true gem in Delaware.  

But, oh, how I wish this cast was in a better play.  We all bring our personal views, morals, and philosophies to all of our experiences in everyday life and the same thing applies to theater.  One can hope that with theater (similar to interactions with people in our normal life) our minds may be opened to something new or a different way of thinking.  The currently running REP/PTTP production of Way to Heaven did that for me to a certain extent.  Playwright Theresa Rebeck's world premiere of O Beautiful, despite its attempts, didn't succeed in that department.  

I'll lay it on the line here because this is my blog, so why not.  I'm a conservative.  I'm not one of these gun-toting NRA folks and I tend to believe that our founding fathers (many of whom make appearances in this very play) had a completely different mindset when they gave us the "right to bear arms" -- Hot Topic #1 in the play.  Rebeck apparently agrees with me, or at least voices this idea in the play which places a big emphasis (perhaps rightly so) on looking back at history with an eye on the ever-changing culture of today.  We must remember that it was George Washington and Thomas Jefferson (and, of course, many others) who wouldn't allow women to vote and kept slaves -- two concepts that obviously seem ridiculous to us now.  In that sense, what Rebeck is trying to voice in the play is an interesting idea.

However, in order to get to get her point across, I can't help but think that she only portrays the extreme side of conservatism in society today.  She pokes fun at Glenn Beck (who I really can't stand and is certainly ripe for comedy) via the character of Simon West (portrayed on stage by REP member Mic Matarrese).  Beck is the EXTREME of the conservative party.  He and the tea partyers are easy targets in this modern era and Rebeck takes aim.  The scenes with Simon West just didn't fit in with the rest of the play for me and seemed rather superfluous at times.  It felt like many of the things being discussed in the West scenes were already being detailed in other scenes in the play (particularly with PTTP member Donte Fitzgerald's "rebel" teacher character Mr. Janaleris) and the addition of West simply seemed like a blatant attempt at slamming the right (even if I think Glenn Beck is deserving of a trouncing).

The "extreme" aspect also comes into play when the story shifts to its other hot topic of abortion.  When teen Alice (PTTP Sara J. Griffin) finds out she is pregnant, she feels that she can't tell her conservative, religious parents because they simply won't understand.  In and of itself, that's a fine storyline, but towards the play's conclusion when secrets that have been kept are revealed, Alice's father turns incredibly nasty towards his daughter, along with the rest of the conservative, gun-toting Selbyville, Delaware, townsfolk.  I'm not debating that this couldn't and/or doesn't happen in real life.  I'm sure there are religious parents that disown their children for having abortions.  But to portray the play's conservatives as mean-spirited just didn't sit well with me.  For a play that hopes that its message is one of political civility, it's ultimately hypocritical with a lack of compassion being shown to the conservative way of thinking.

[Let's be honest here.  If this so-called edgy play wanted to be really ballsy, it would have taken the pro-life stance.  Can you imagine that?  Pro-life at a college?  Say what you will about "art" trying to push the envelope, but in the grand scheme of things, a huge chunk of current "art" (music, movies, whatever) pushes a liberal element, while ridiculing the conservative side of things.  As a reviewer, I'm not saying whether I agree or disagree with that stance, but for a play that a New York Times article calls "controversial," it's really only saying what liberal colleges have been pushing on their students for years.  Rant Over...]

All these thoughts aside, I didn't hate the play.  I appreciated the delicate balance that Ms. Rebeck creates between comedy and drama, with most of the former aspect coming from a "cooler than school" Jesus Christ (REP member Michael Gotch) and the latter aspect coming from a storyline dealing with the bullying of high schooler Lennie (PTTP member Ben Charles) and his relationship with mother Linda (PTTP member Elizabeth Heflin).  Admittedly, it was always nice to have some comedic relief whenever things got too heavy...and they got heavy quite a bit.  But it was those heavy moments that lacked a strong emotional impact that I really want and desire as a theatergoer.  Don't get me wrong, the finale of Act I, although completely obvious in its foreshadowing, was still a powerful moment.  But oftentimes, the serious aspects of the play reeked a bit of melodrama, obviousness, and were precariously close to becoming ABC Afterschool Special-y.  There were moments where I couldn't help but think that the playwright just threw a whole bunch of hot button political topics into a blender, hit pulse, and then poured the mixture onto the page willy nilly.

But enough of the negative.  Let's instead discuss the positive.  Great scenic design from Takeshi Kata and costumes from Martha Hally (who also designed the brilliant set and fanciful costumes, respectively, from A Midsummer Night's Dream earlier in the season).  Director Sanford Robbins stages the play in an exciting and rather refreshing manner.  Once again, one thing the REP does and the REP does rather brilliantly is use its stages to their fullest potential and O Beautiful is no exception.

And the actors -- the folks that my fellow theatergoers have come to love watching grow and tackle new roles over the past three years -- are wonderful.  First off, kudos to Elizabeth Heflin who is given a wonderful chance to shine in the role of Linda.  Funny at times and then emotionally gut-wrenching, she's forced to run the gamut here and it was great to see her given such a power-packed role to tackle.  Hats off also to Sara Griffin (who already gave a winning performance this season as Emily Webb in Our Town) who succeeds once again with the tricky character of Alice, having to walk a delicate balance between being strong-willed and utterly frightened at the same time.  

Of course, it's nice that Griffin is able to interact with Michael Gotch's humorous and heartwarming turn as Jesus Christ.  I can't imagine that Jesus would be an easy role to undertake, but Gotch's interpretation just "feels right" -- I realize that might sound like faint praise, but it's actually meant to be very positive.  I kind of feel like Gotch's hip and trendy Jesus (and therein Rebeck's take on the religious figure) is who Jesus would be were he here today.

Ultimately, it's kind of cool that the University of Delaware -- my alma mater -- is premiering a play from a playwright who has had her work shown on Broadway, and it's certainly excellent that the play was written with the stellar REP and PTTP members (and their creative teams) in mind.  One would hope that this will happen again in years to come.  It's also nice to see something set in "the present" which we don't often get to see in theater.  However, if I had my druthers, I'd snatch up tickets to the currently-running productions of wonderfully funny The Good Doctor and dramatically powerful Way to Heaven instead.