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I Ought to Be in Pictures |
Through November 22, 2009
Reviewed by Bob Wilcox
When he's not cranking out gags, Neil Simon can write quite sweet and touching, if minor, plays about personal relationships. The most obvious example is the autobiographical Eugene Trilogy. We saw another example recently at the St. Louis Actors' Studio, Proposals.
Now we have I Ought to Be in Pictures at the West End Players Guild. It shows us the reunion of a daughter with a father who walked out on his family in Brooklyn 16 years ago when she was three. Now he's a writer in Hollywood, and she's crossed the country to see him because she wants to be an actor.
Probably because Simon is himself a writer and the father of daughters, he develops the father with more credibility and depth than the other characters. It's a good role for Mark Abels. Abels is one of those actors who looks and acts pretty much the same in every role but who makes that work for the character he's playing. This approach can limit an actor's range, but Abels stretches his range a little more with each character he plays, and he keeps getting better at it. Here he conveys both the innately private nature of the father and his gradual and delighted opening to this daughter he's discovering.
The daughter stretches credulity a little with her naivete about both the acting profession and sex and with her amazing arsenal of mechanical and domestic skills. But Simon makes her so spunky, quirky, and determined that we'll overlook the excesses in order to enjoy her charm. Delightful newcomer Chrissy Young doubles the charm with her entrancing performance, Brooklyn accent firmly in place. I hope we'll see more of Young.
The father's girlfriend – perhaps I should say woman friend: she's approaching forty and is a successful makeup artist at one of the movie studios – is there because we need somebody to ask the questions that will bring us up to speed on the story and because the father and daughter need a dispenser of wisdom as they explore their relationship and because the playwright wants to show us the father's reluctance to commit to a relationship. In the West End production, Jane Abling manages to make this character seem warm and real, as if she had a life of her own beyond the mechanics of the play. It's one of Abling's best performances.
Under Fay McKenna's clear direction, all three cast members play Simon's mostly gentle and wry humor with lovely timing. Renee Sevier-Monsey attractively shoehorns the writer's crowded apartment onto the small stage, with lighting by Anthony Anselmo, costumes by Russell J. Bettlach, and sound by Chuck Lavazzi.
It drags a little toward the end – the writer's fault – but I Ought to Be in Pictures at the West End Players Guild delivers a very pleasant time in the theatre. The production continues through Sunday afternoon, Nov. 22, 2009. Tickets are available at 314-367-0025 or online at www.westendplayers.org .
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