Two world premieres and one San Diego premiere opened here recently.
La Jolla Playhouse partnered with Moises Kaufman and the Tectonic Theatre Project to present Daniel Beaty's play about Paul Robeson, titled THE TALLEST TREE IN THE FOREST. Mr. Beaty's script emphasizes Mr. Robeson's rise from poverty, his importance as a theatre and recital artist, and his commitment to equal rights around the world. Those elements combined during the anti-communist witch hunts following World War II to sideline many well-known performers, including Mr. Robeson. Mr. Beaty does a reasonable imitation of Mr. Robeson's singing style, but the highlight of the performance is John Narun’s stunning projection design. I understand that a New York production is planned for this show.
BROKEN GLASS is a late play by Arthur Miller. Obsessed with Jewish self-hatred, the play explores the psychology of suburban Jews who are all dealing with antisemitism in the 1950s. The North Coast Repertory Theatre's artistic director David Ellenstein gives an amiable performance as a medial doctor who knows more psychology than he credits himself, but Ralph Elias, gone for five years from San Diego stages, makes a triumphant return by inhabiting a man beaten down by false pride. Local actor/director Rosina Reynolds helms the production.
THE FEW is Samuel D. Hunter's new play about rural loneliness and the lengths many will go to overcome it. It tells the tale of a man who abandoned a community he built around a monthly newspaper called The Few, and the woman who took over the paper and made it a forum for personal ads placed by increasingly desperate people. The acting, under Davis McCallum's direction, doesn't do a lot to relieve the sadness of the situation, though Gideon Glick, as a young gay man who helps put out the paper out of his own desperation, shines through with a quirky performance that energizes every scene in which he appears. THE FEW is scheduled, I hear, for a New York production next spring.
Bill, in San Diego
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