By Terrence McNally
At Pride Arts Center, The Broadway, 4139 N. Broadway. Tickets: 866-811-4111 or 773-857-0222;
PrideFilmsAndPlays.com, $25-$40. Runs through: Nov. 11
Can a play be accused of being Minnesota-nice? That's the question that continually struck me while observing Pride Films and Plays' production of Terrence McNally's lesser known work, It's Only a Play, directed by Jon Martinez.
No one could accuse the production of being unenjoyable, but for a work from the creator of Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class, one can see why "It's Only a Play" doesn't get taken out of mothballs very often. Written in 1986 and revised by McNally in 2014, this small work still has the musty feel of goof-ball comedies written in the 1960s and '70s, with easily identifiable types and well-worn, inoffensive themes about theater people and theater life. Neuroticism, narcissism, and theatrical rivalries are pleasantly poked at without saying much about them and conflicts resolve themselves quickly and predictably.
It's Only a Play is one of a set of offerings by Pride Films and Plays exploring and celebrating McNally's life and prolific work this month, so perhaps its selection for production is best comprehended in that context. However, I fear this is one reboot that calls upon its cast to revive something that should have been put to bed some time ago.
Given all that, the actors are certainly game for it. Opening night in a hotel room awaiting the reviews to come in on a production of a new play called The Golden Egg, we are treated to a parade of characters, each with his or her respective maniasand the bigger the mania, the better. Sarah Hayes may win that prize, playing Virginia Noyes, an actress that makes her entrance screaming and proves to be a walking pharmacopeia of recreational drugs. Following close behind is Cody Jolly's portrayal of Frank Finger, the play's self-absorbed, genius Brit director with a serious klepto compulsion. Marika Mashburn brings a lot of youthful and joyful execution to her rendering of the play's producer, Julia Budder.
The slightly more stable and earnest characters, James Wicker ( William Marquez ), an actor with a successful TV series, and Peter Austin ( Kevin Webb ), the playwright of The Golden Egg, are old theater buddies whose friendship is laced with ambition, rivalry, and a bit of recrimination. But it's here where the pleasantness of the writing undercuts a bit of badly needed tension between these two. On top of that, once the play truly sails into goof-ball territory, Jon Martinez's direction seems to hold the cast back just when it should be going a little further over the edge.
Again, it's not as if the show isn't humorous and enjoyable. But one enjoys a comedy like this as much as one enjoys smooth jazz or classical lite music. Here, McNally is being at his amiable and congenial best, with nothing to disturb the audienceand also nothing much to remember.