THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED
By Douglas Carter Beane (Regional
Premiere)
Watertower Theatre
*REVIEWED 10/26/07 PERFORMANCE
Directed by James Paul Lemons
Costume Design by Aaron Patrick Turner
Lighting Design by Leann Ellis
Scenic Design by Terry Martin
_______________THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED_______________
On the internet there is a gay man who calls himself the
"queen of all
media", who goes by the name Perez Hilton. This portly queen
who dyes
his hair in Easter egg colors posts countless pictures of
celebrities
on his site. That's it. Well actually that's not all he
does. He will
draw vulgar symbols & cartoons on these pictures and will
then write
personal "commentary" on them.
One of his favorite tasks on his site is to "out" closeted
celebrities
that populate the entertainment landscape. Even if these
famous folk
are gay or not, he stops at nothing to constantly post their
pics on
his pink hazed website and make derogatory comments about
them for not
being out and proud. Currently his favorite choices of prey
include
Wentworth Miller of PRISON BREAK fame and HIGH SCHOOL
MUSICAL star
Zac Efron. Whatever you do though, don't get him started on
Tom
Cruise. But Perez is an equal opportunity offender as he
also attacks
gay performers who have publicly come out of the closet,
such as
NSYNC's Lance Bass. Hilton's nickname for the former boy
band member
who currently is on Broadway in HAIRSPRAY is "Princess
Frostylocks".
Ouch.
Closeted Hollywood stars who must swim in an ocean of gossip
& rumors
to deny that they are gay is nothing new. When the creation
of motion
pictures was born, one of its first stars faced this same
dilemma,
the sheik himself Rudy Valentino.
Since then Tinsletown is littered with past stars hiding
their homo-
sexuality or having to defend themselves that they are not
gay: Rock
Hudson (who married his assistant for the publicity), Tab
Hunter,
Cary Grant, Tony Curtis, Montgomery Clift, Anthony Perkins,
and James
Dean..the list is endless.
Even today there are stars that are in the same predicament
as those
stars from the past. They say they are straight, but the
rumors and
gossip swirl around them constantly like that white plastic
bag in
the film AMERICAN BEAUTY. Who hasn't heard or read that John
Travolta,
Jodi Foster, Queen Latifah, Tom Cruise, Richard Gere, and so
on are
gay. Not even Oprah herself has been safe from the gossip
mill thanks
to her friendship with Gail.
I am NOT stating that they are gay here, but gossip, rumors,
and
endless articles in the tabloids have claimed or "hinted"
that they
are-and that's not counting the blogs and internet. But they
and
others have to defend themselves constantly in the media. At
press
junkets, talk shows, magazine interviews, and so on they
state, "I'm
not gay". Others won't even comment on it, which only adds
fuel to
the blazing fire of whispers about their personal lives.
Then there is the situation of when a straight actor tackles
a gay
role. Poor Harry Hamlin and Michael O'Keefe had their
careers suffer
greatly due to doing the gay themed film in the 1970s,
MAKING LOVE.
It would have to take Tom Hanks to break that barrier by
winning the
Oscar for PHILIDELPHIA.
Gay films and plays don't have a good track record either.
Very few
films honestly tackle the heart, soul, & inner emotional
battles in
dealing with gay life. For every LONGTIME COMPANION, THE
24TH DAY,
BURNT MONEY, and of course BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, there is a
stack of
crapola that try to pass off as accomplished gay cinema. Why
do
directors and producers think that if you put two muscle
studs who
can't act of a paper bag in a film will justify as serious
cinematic
art? You might admire the physical beauty for about five
minutes (on
stage or on film)..then what? That's were acting and depth
come in,
and that's where so many gay themed plays and films
collapse. You sit
there in the dark not investing your emotions into the
story, but
instead you are thinking, "I wonder what is open after the
show for a
light snack? Did I DVR THE SOUP on E!?"
Same goes for the stage. Sure, there is the brilliance of
TORCH SONG
TRILOGY, AS IS, and TAKE ME OUT. But we also have the
dreadful and
offensive dreg like BOYS IN THE BAND & NAKED BOYS SINGING.
This brings us to Douglas Carter Beane's play, THE LITTLE
DOG
LAUGHED, now receiving its Dallas premiere at Watertower
Theatre.
Mitchell is a rising Hollywood star who has a ball busting,
hyper-
active dame for an agent (Diane). While under a drunken
stupor, he
hires a male escort (Alex) for some fun, only nothing
happens that
first night. By the way, Mitchell hides behind an endless
row of
metal closet doors the fact that he is gay. Alex has his own
sexuality
issues to juggle internally with as well. Plus he has a
girlfriend
(Ellen) who clings onto him like an eagle clutching a tiny
mouse in
its talons. Slowly Mitchell and Alex realize their mutual
affection
for each other, but a myriad of problems force this
relationship to
either succeed or fracture apart.
While the cast and direction shines, the same cannot be said
for
Beane's script. In doing my research of this play, several
New York
critics made comments on the changes from the Off Broadway
production
and the final product on Broadway. In their reviews they
stated that
the role of the agent was unbalanced, stuck in
mini-monologues and
served no real purpose to the script as a whole. With the
tinkering
and rewriting for the great white way, Beane completely
retooled the
role, thereby making the agent a much stronger force within
the
piece. This might explain why the other three characters
have fallen
to the wayside within these changes.
My problem with the script is that some character arcs are
just not
fully developed or thoroughly explained. There are
situations that
come off baffling and there are even holes within the plot
that are
so obvious you wonder why Beane never noticed them during
tech week
at the Cort Theater (where the Broadway production was
housed in).
The major issue is that you honestly don't feel compassion
or any
empathy whatsoever for anyone on stage. I really wish Beane
had not
made Alex an escort. I honestly think that if Alex had a
different
occupation (he could have worked at the hotel and that's how
they
met) we could have felt more for their relationship. I mean
the guy
did steal Mitchell's money on their first "date", and then
we are to
believe that money means nothing to him in the second act?
Huh? That
whole "hooker with a heart of gold" routine has been done to
death.
It was mastered by Julia Roberts for heaven's sake.
Mitchell's deep, internal conflicts and dialogue never fully
evolve.
It's just so confusing that for over an hour he has
professed his
affection for Alex, that finally this is something he wants
in his
life-and it takes a simple movie role to throw all that
away. Why?
What makes his heart ache and mourn the loss? We don't know
because
it is never truly explored within Beane's hodgepodge script.
Thus by
the end you feel nothing for the relationship, instead it
comes off
predictable and void of any true compassion or heartache.
By the way, it doesn't help that Beane's subplot regarding
Ellen
could be smelled a mile away.
Finally the last final moments of the play feel like they
were written
due to deadline constrictions. We are left with fast
"clippings"
trying to resolve all the loose ends, thereby creating only
more
confusion and even more of a let down. The script does
contain some
hysterical dialogue, but the emotion and subtext is
invisible here.
You're left with this aftertaste of "Jeez, can we see a damn
play or
movie where for once the guy comes out of the closet, and
stays with
the guy?! Oh, and no one dies."
The script itself has its problems, but not Watertower's
mounting.
James Paul Lemons directs the piece with organic
truthfulness.
Although I had wish the argument between Alex and Mitchell
in the
second act had variations within its blocking. The
threadbare subtext
here is two men finally letting out (what little there is
written on
the page) what is trapped within their conflicted emotions
regarding
each other. You wanted these two men to circle each other
(or far
apart) like lions caged in a small box made of rice paper,
and only
one of them was coming out alive. Nonetheless, Lemons
direction here
is terrific and shows his strength in helming both musicals
and plays.
The quartet of actors within the piece all perform
exceptionally well.
Marisa Diotalevi clearly is the star of the production. But
when you
are given the showy role with the best lines and funniest
comments,
what else would you expect? However, combine that with
Diotalevi's
dazzling comic timing and delivery, she literally devours
all in her
path with her electrifying comedic talents. Diotalevi
portrays
"Diane", the role that put the Tony award into Julie White's
hands
this past season.
With a stage presence that glows like a thousand candles,
Ms.
Diotalevi shimmers in this production. She is one of the
very few
women in this city's talent pool that understands comedy and
its
subtext. She comprehends that comedy is just more than a
punch line.
I've always been a devoted fan of this woman's comedic
talents, and
for her creation of "Diane" this actress goes full out,
resulting in
a performance people will be talking about all year long.
The comic
rhythms and syncopations within her comedic tools are
sublime. She
delivers the monologues with keene delivery, timing, and
pace. She
gets under the obvious jokes and instead pulls out laughs
from the
simplest lines. It is the finest work that has poured out
from this
much admired thespian.
I was a little disappointed that the playbill had no bios,
because I
can only assume this is the metroplex debut of Kyle May.
I've never
seen this actor around on any local stage, but I hope to see
him now
in future shows after his dynamic performance here. May has
a very
difficult process set before him as the closeted "Mitchell".
The
character is just not defined well enough, with emotional
pot holes
splattered all over the character's subtext. May must
carefully walk
around these glaring holes to some how segue into a
satisfying
characterization, which he does succeed in doing. Physically
May does
resemble those male actors that currently flood Tinseltown's
rooster
of celebrities. May actually looks like a younger Aaron
Eckhart (with
dark hair).
May has to somehow pull out pain, conflict within his heart
&
conscious in the second act-even though Beane does not
clearly define
all those battling emotions on paper. But somehow May does
find the
second act dramatic subtext, which is riveting and shows the
emotional
confusion within Mitchell. May is outstanding in this role.
As "Ellen" Alicia Bullen is hilarious as the girl who loves
Alex, even
if his job is to sleep with men for money. She achieves some
great
laughs with her snotty, holier than thou characterization.
However,
she does need to raise her volume within the black box
theater. There
were times off and on within her performance that I could
just not
hear her in the intimate space. This was not helped with her
rushing
of lines, causing her diction to suffer along this speeding
tone of
delivery. I'm sure it must be opening night jitters.
Regardless she is
wonderful in this piece.
Chad Peterson portrays "Alex", the male escort who develops
feelings
for the movie star hiding behind the closet door. Peterson's
best
work comes in the second act when his character must swim in
the
dramatic waters of confrontation and confusion. Through
various roles
in both musicals and plays, Peterson continues to grow more
and more
into an accomplished actor and in this performance he shines
brightly
and displays vivid results of his growth as an actor. My
only quibble
here is that there are several references to Alex being a "twink",
which is a term for a young male under the age of 17. Diane
and others
call Alex a child, and even a 14 year old. While Peterson
does have
the gym sculpted body that we all wished we had ourselves,
he does not
physically resemble a twink or a 14 year old. In his
defense, Johnny
Galecki (of ROSANNE fame) originated the role for both
Broadway & off-
Broadway, and he doesn't look like a twink either.
Nonetheless
Peterson's acting craft and choices do override this
unbalance.
There is full frontal nudity, men kissing, profanity, and
very adult
situations displayed within this piece. I give WTT, Mr.
Lemons and his
cast a standing ovation for not backing down on any of that.
They
could have toned down these elements within this piece as to
"not
offend" anyone, but they didn't. It's a risky move that pays
off
handsomely here.
Beane's script is perplexing and has severe limitations
within the
character development and subtext. But with this fine cast
and
direction, they do make the production come alive with
robust laughs.
I just so dearly wanted the dramatic elements within Beane's
words to
be as strong as the comedy. Plus, would it have killed Beane
to go
against the norm and actually have the guys stay together as
a couple?
Think of the many possibilities had Beane wrote Mitchell to
come out
publicly as a gay Hollywood star and leaving Diane to do
spin control
on that! Then have Mitchell & Alex adopt Ellen's baby. Can
you imagine
Diane on the phone with PEOPLE magazine arranging a cover
story like
that?
Alas we will never know.
GRADE: B+
___________________________________________________________________
Production continues through Through November 18, 2007.
Performed in
the Addison Theatre Centre's Studio Theatre, which is
located at
15650 Addison Road in Addison, Tx. Showtimes are Thursdays
at 7:30
PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, and Sundays at 2:00
PM. Tickets
are $20 and can be purchased by calling the WTT Box Office
at
972.450.6232 or online at
www.watertowertheatre.org. Group rates are
also available.
John F. Garcia, Jr.
Executive Director/Producer, "THE COLUMN" Theatre
Awards
Editor & Founder of THE COLUMN
Texas Regional Theater Critic for talkinbroadway.com
