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Regional Reviews: Minneapolis/St. Paul By the Way, Meet Vera Stark Also see Arthur's reviews of Oliver!, FOB and Love and Information
The play's first act is set in 1933 Hollywood. Vera Stark is employed as movie star Gloria Mitchell's maid. As the play opens, Gloria is prepping to audition for the lead in The Belle of New Orleans, a big movie every actress in Hollywood is gunning for. The movie also has a substantial role for a black slave named Tillie. Vera came to Hollywood to be an actress, and has her sights on playing Tillie. She asked Gloria to put in a word for her, but the self-absorbed Gloria cannot be bothered with this. Vera's roommate Lottie also aspires to be an actress. But, if it was tough for others to break in, it was far more so for black actors. When Vera tells Lottie that the script for Belle of New Orleans is replete with slaves, Lottie skeptically asks, "Do these slaves have lines?" Vera and Lottie's conniving friend Anna Mae also seeks a show biz career but is more willing to use her feminine allure and whatever else it takes to get there. Act one concludes with a riotous dinner party thrown by Gloria that spins hilariously out of control. Act two opens with a screening of the final ten minutes of the Belle of New Orleans, the climactic scene of Gloria as the doomed heroine dying in the arms of her devoted slave Tillie, played by none other than Vera. It turns out that we are viewing the film clip in the context of a 2003 symposium on "What Happened to Vera Stark?" Yes, the iconic role of Tillie made Vera a star but her life since Belle was an up and down roller coaster, both professionally and personally. The symposium, in turn, uses footage of Vera's final public appearance on a 1973 television talk show with a host in the Merv Griffin mold. This "footage" is actually played out live, with Vera appearing as a, boozy, through-the-ringer semi-legend. She arrives wearing a garish bilious dress, which she begs the audience to love, and to love her. In her sensuality, frankness, and neediness, Vera has become Eartha Kitt crossed with Judy Garland. The first act of Vera Stark is straightforward comedy, directed by Lou Bellamy with great timing and zip, and driven by those great performances: Crystal Fox as a resolute Vera, Norah Long as a simpering Gloria, Jamila Anderson as spikey Anna Mae, and Greta Oglesby as Lotte. All three have done excellent work before, so it is no surprise that their talents combine with great results. The biggest surprise is Oglesby's hilarious turn as Lotte. Oglesby has so often played somber characters, especially her Ivey Award winning performance in Caroline or Change. Here she shows us how funny she can be. Peering out a window to spy on Anna Mae, Oglesby is as funny with her back to the audience as anyone else might be facing us. In act two, Crystal Fox shows us how Vera, who knew her self-worth even if it was not valued in the marketplace, has compromised to attain what she thought she wanted ... the celebrity and luxury of a Gloria Stewart ... and as a result has a very tentative grasp on success and her own worth. Was her slide due to entrenched racism or did the glitter of celebrity blind her to pitfalls she might have avoided? Fox plays Vera's character with such conviction that we can believe both of these forces ate away at her. As the two panelists, Oglesby projects droll self-importance as the academic while Anderson is comically over the top as the radical hip-hopper. The male roles in Vera Stark are far less developed, though all three actors—Kevin D. West as Leroy Barksdale and symposium moderator Herb Forrester, Peter Moore as the producer and the talk show host, and Paul De Cordova as the director and a tripped out rock star also guesting on the talk show—do solid work. A musical number from "the old days" performed by Vera and Gloria on the talk show, taps the talents of musical director Sanford Moore and choreographer Austene Van. The physical production is more complex than typical for Penumbra, with set changes for each scene in act one. Each setting establishes a sense of place, particularly in the differences between Gloria's and Vera's living rooms. The costumes are spot on 1930s Hollywood for act one, appropriately outrageous for the 1973 talk show, and apt caricatures of 2003 styling for the symposium. Sound and video designer Martin Gwinup has done great work in creating a Belle of New Orleans film clip that is believable 1930s vintage. I cannot say By the Way, Meet Vera Stark is a perfect play. The positions ascribed by the symposium panelists might be better articulated, though it is not out of the realm of reality for such discussions to be based on fuzzy arguments. Overall, this is a very strong play, juxtaposing comedy with the grim struggles that comedy masks. Moreover, Penumbra has pulled the stops to give By the Way, Meet Vera Stark as entertaining and provocative a production as one can imagine. By the Way, Meet Vera Stark continues through March 1, 2015, at Penumbra Theatre, 270 North Kent Street, Saint Paul, MN. Tickets are $40.00, $35 for seniors with ID and $15 for students with valid ID. For tickets call 651-224-3180 or go to www.penumbratheatre.org. Writer: Lynn Nottage; Director: Lou Bellamy; Musical Direction: Sanford Moore; Costume Designer: Matthew LeFebvre; Scenic Designer: C. Lance Brockman; Sound and Video Designer: Martin Gwinup; Lighting Designer: Marcus Dilliard; Wig Designer: Andrea Moriarity; Choreographer: Austene Van; Costume Design Assistant: Aaron Chvatal; Scenic Design Assistant: Annie Henley; Props Mistress: Amy Reddy; Dialect Coach: D'Arcy Smith: Stage Manager: Mary K. Winchell. Cast: Jamila Anderson (Anna Mae/ Afua Assata Ejobo), Paul De Cordova (Maximillian Von Oster/Peter Rhys-Davies), Crystal Fox (Vera Stark); Gloria Mitchell (Norah Long), Peter Moore (Fredrick Slasvick/Brad Donovan). Greta Oglesby (Lottie/Carmen), Kevin D. West (Leroy Barksdale/Herb Forrester).
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