In the musical, Stine (Eric Rehm) works on the movie version of his book. Stone (last year's show-stealer, Marshall Nannes '09) is the private eye whose archetypal self-assurance gives the book its raison d'être, its selling point. The book's done so well, in fact, that Stine has a three-movie, 100-grand deal. Stone, though, doesn't fare quite as admirably in the 1940s as he takes on an unsettling case. The money is good, the dialogue corny and the bruisers uncompromising as Stone discovers that looking for the heiress Mallory Kingsley (Kendahl Goldwater-Feldman '08) has its drawbacks. Pain's a major one. Nevertheless, those are trifles compared to the hacking that Stine, proxy of producer-director Buddy (Mike Devlin), inflicts upon the script.
It's all a little convoluted, but the main idea of the show stresses the importance of artistic integrity and preserving your creative vision. Buddy encourages Stine to simplify the story, "to make it easier for the audience" and to downplay the racial angle. In its cynicism about the viewer who wants to be entertained and not lectured, "City of Angels" resembles Charlie Kaufman's "Adaptation" a good deal. Seeing Stine revise his screenplay on one side of the stage as the revision played out on the other side was an interesting device. The rewinds were especially amusing giving "City of Angels" this wonderful self-consciousness to the show.
Most of the clever bits probably have something to do with A. Scott Parry's bright direction. The use of flashlights in "Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere" when Stone is searching for Mallory? Brilliant. Thankfully, the talent of the ensemble matched the direction with consummate ease. A special mention is due the female leads: Goldwater-Feldman, Vanessa Calentropo (Donna and Oolie), Sarah Rulfs (Alaura Kingsley and Carla Haywood) and Rebecca Jacobson (Bobbi and Gabby) gave us reason to hold our breaths. And hold them we did, through Gabby's and Donna's duet, through Mallory's pitch perfect delivery, through the soaring finale.
By the very end with Stine and Stone's final reprise of "You're Nothing Without Me," you wanted to hug the two leads. They are caricatures, for sure, yet Rehm and Nannes have that instantly likeable quality to them, that instinct for wowing the crowd. Sound sets of pipes don't hurt either. Some of the other stock characters were, for better or worse, overdone. For worse: Jokes were often delivered too quickly and too subtly leaving many comic lines in the dust. For better: Hilarity ensued at the over-the-top portrayals nevertheless. But if you couldn't already tell from "Candide" last year, Ross "Pangloss" Wolfarth '08 is, simply put, an exceptional character actor. He deftly handled a slew of roles including Dr. Mandril, Bill the Gaffer and Madame. Yes, that's right, Madame.
Wolfarth represented, surprisingly, one of the few Amherst actors to command substantial stage time. "City of Angels," for all its billing as a premier Amherst event, relied an awful lot on invited talent. Very fine talent, it has to be said, but surely more students-and there's no lack of singing flair at this College-should be involved? Something to note, perhaps, for next year's extravaganza.
A challenge of a different sort presented itself in the score. Bereft of big musical numbers or particularly hummable show tunes like "Big Spender" in "Sweet Charity," Coleman's jazz infusions still brought the best out of an accomplished Orchestra. When you have such fun and energy in songs like "What You Don't Know About Women," "The Tennis Song" and "Lost and Found," it's really hard not to want to jive along. The Angel City Four also sounded terrific, giving "City of Angels" the appropriate '40s feel.
Unfortunately, Buckley's poor acoustics prevented the audience from hearing some lyrics and lines of dialogue. That, on top of the complicated double plot, flashbacks and all, made following the story even more difficult. Besides, Buckley already limits staging, set pieces and lighting design. Rooms were somewhat cramped and lighting was sometimes insufficient. It's to the set designer's merit that the black curtains and metal frames that made up the set were used creatively. Flipping over a comforter on a bed or a Hollywood director on a stretcher-these nifty touches decorating the switches between modern and noir black-and-white scenes made it all a little better. It's time, possibly, for the College to consider a serious revamp of Buckley. After all, a first-rate production warrants a top-rate venue.