A Strong Revival of the Uneven 'Camino Real' at Boston Court
Marissa Chibas and Matthew Goodrich in "Camino Real" - Photo by Ed Krieger.
For the centenary of Tennessee Williams’ birth year, the Theatre@Boston Court and CalArts School of Theater have collaborated on a production of his rarely produced 1953 work, Camino Real. The play is unique in Williams’ oeuvre in that it’s surreal and heavily symbolic without much in terms of traditional plot. It seems like Williams’ take on No Exit, albeit set in an unnamed Mexican or South American location.
The play is a mixed bag, quality-wise, both overlong and pretentious but also often funny and moving and lyrical. Frankly, the show is going to mainly appeal to Williams aficionados and lovers of the avant-garde, but it gets a vigorous and assured revival from director Jessica Kubzansky and an excellent ensemble.
The setting is the plaza of the Camino Real, bookended by the high-end Siete Mares hotel on one side and the cheap Ritz Men Only flophouse on the other, a dried-up fountain channel bisecting the stage. Siete Mares proprietor Gutman (Brian Tichnell) serves as narrator and ringmaster over a rabble of “mendicants, prostitutes and thieves,” but also several famous fictional or historical characters who have lost their way and ended up here. Casanova (Tim Cummings) is nervously awaiting a letter with money to keep from being evicted from the Siete Mares. He has fallen in love with Marguerite (Marissa Chibas), the “Camille” of La Traviata fame, but all she wants to do is escape. Ex-boxer Kilroy (Matthew Goodrich) is down on his luck but cheerful, but Gutman will do everything he can to turn his optimism into despair.
Goodrich is superb as Kilroy, the representative of young, can-do America of the 1950s being beaten down by the callousness of the world. He’s perfectly cast as the typical charismatic hero, all cocky asides to the audience and aw-shucks charm, but his performance deepens into affecting drama as the story darkens. Cummings is effective but almost too gruff as the increasingly desperate Casanova—we don’t see Casanova’s legendary powers of seduction here. Chibas succeeds at portraying the simultaneously sympathetic and selfish character of Marguerite, who tellingly describes her relationship with Casanova with the phrase “caged birds accept each other, but flight is what they long for.”
Tichnell scores as the alternately sardonic and threatening Gutman, but Michael Aurelio is dramatically muted as the departing Lord Byron. Lenny Von Dohlen impresses in multiple roles, specifically as Don Quixote, the single continually positive character in the story, and Baron de Charlus (from Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past), a longtime denizen with a low-key appeal. Cristina Frias brings blunt humor to the role of the Gypsy, and Kalean Ung is outstanding as the Gypsy’s daughter, Esmeralda, particularly memorable in a long scene with Goodrich where love tries to overpower commerce. Finally, the entire ensemble is committed and talented, never dropping character, exemplified by Jasmine Hughes, whose lovely and passionate performance as the Blind Mother proves the old maxim that there are no small roles.
Kubzansky stages the action with great vitality, excelling in big set piece moments such the arrival of a passenger plane or the departure of a dead man into the keeping of the sinister street sweepers, and the constant activity of the large ensemble is admirably detailed. A few things don’t work, such as the actors flailing about at every “block change,” or the unexplained shaking the actors occasionally exhibit, but overall this is an expertly directed production. Dorothy Hoover’s set is efficient if a bit bland, but Silvanne E.B. Park’s costumes are creative and sumptuous, notably the street sweeper’s bloodstained uniforms and Gutman’s leather dressing gown with bright red silk lining. Patrick Janssen’s sound design adds depth to the reality of the Camino Real, and Kwan Fai Lam’s terrific original music accentuates the drama and excitement.
Camino Real
CalArts School of Theater in co-production with and at Theatre@Boston Court
70 N. Mentor, Pasadena
Runs Th.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 2 p.m., thru March 13
Tickets $27-32
bostoncourt.org or (626) 683-6883