Entertainment :: Theatre
A Beautiful Child (FringeNYC) by Rob Lester
EDGE ContributorSunday Aug 12, 2007 Marilyn Monroe, where did you go? Gone, but not forgotten all these years later. This icon of icons, movie star who defined "movie star" had attention-grabbing charisma so bright its glow still remains. Part of the mystique, of course, is about who this breathy, curvy, eyelash-fluttering beauty fantasy creature really was. Writer and celebrity-watcher Truman Capote had some idea because he knew her a bit and spent a memorable long day with the lady. It was 1955. He had turned 30 the year before and had almost another 30 years to go before he died. She was two years younger, but would live for a mere seven more years after this day they shared.
It’s a funeral that starts their day. Constance Collier, Marilyn’s acting coach who described her as "a beautiful child" was also part of Capote’s circle. There are a few chatty comments about her from the actor playing Capote before the black-clad star’s entrance, sans make-up, late as usual. You can see it re-enacted in A Beautiful Child, a stage play that might be called long ready-made and just sitting around waiting to be put on its feet -in high heels. Capote’s recollections were put down as a segment of his book Music For Chameleons where much of what was put in print is bits of their conversation directly quoted and on the page in script format. It couldn’t be more spoon-fed for a theater company to take it from page to stage. The other parts of that memoir are comments by Capote spoken verbatim during the show by the actor playing Capote, with very little editing. (Immediately after seeing the show, I read through the rather short piece again to be sure.) Thus, the program simply lists the deceased Capote as the playwright.
Does it make a good, intriguing piece of theater? Well, it does to some degree -but its attraction and limitations are both due to the fact that they restrict themselves to Capote’s remembered words. So it’s a voyeur’s delight, the "reality show" that really happened, and depends a lot on your interest in celebrity secrets and the off-screen true personality. The director and actors can stay true to the words but color them with artistic license and emphasize certain parts by using timing creatively. That happens to some extent here and mood-setting lighting helps, too (Travis McHale has some nice, sensitive touches). A major addition to the mystique and sense of longing and connection is effective but short dance movements, underscoring the concept that the way two people interact is much like a dance and tentativeness, pleasure, and tension can all be expressed non-verbally through these dance statements as economically choreographed by Ben Munisteri, with the performers making it part of their acting, the emotions showing clearly on their faces and through their physical energy. Pre-recorded music accompanies this.
It’s the directorial debut for actress Linda Powell and she’s dealing with two strong and unique show bizzy personalities that many audience members will have strong images of, not an easy thing to overcome. The energy lags here and there and there are some tentative moments, but by and large things are clear and she allows for many touching and funny instances that play like memorable snapshots. Some happily rush by, others are allowed to linger and leave behind a feeling you want to reflect upon, and that’s all to the good. Although the pace could be sharpened (I saw the first performance), there is variety in mood with some interchanges or commentaries pleasingly offhand and frothy and others tugging at the heart a bit.
So what happens? Mostly they talk and compare notes. Marilyn has the focus. Tender or fearful one moment, the next she is snickering about how endowed a few famous men are and getting him to talk about a tryst with a male star. She chats with a star-struck passerby, complains about the down side of fame and her disappointment with her films, and they share drinks and memories and opinions.
There is a cast of two and the pair is also credited with adapting the work for the stage. Maura Lisabeth Malloy is our Marilyn and she is by turns audacious, petulant, and a little girl lost. Eschewing the purring Monroe baby voice or the whispery cooing, she comes up with an amalgamation of these qualities that has its own quirks and wearied innocence. She’s willful one moment, fearful the next, inquisitive and edgy. It works quite well and her watchability quotient is this production’s greatest asset. It’s the unpredictability and instant changes that keep one’s eye on her. They don’t make her go blonde and there is no sense of someone doing strictly a celebrity impression.
I had hoped to find more focus on the Capote character. But once Marilyn enters after his introductory monologue to set up the situation and recall the deceased Collier, one’s attention stays pretty much on the magnetic Monroe personality. Though Capote was no shrinking violet, he is presented here mostly as her captive audience, sometimes mesmerized, the ultimate observer a writer must be. Joel Van Liew is no Capote clone. Tall and slim, with limbs that fold up and flop, he still gets some of the gossipy, mischievous manner of the writer and keeps a twinkle in his eye. Though he seems to take a backseat to the lady and could stand some more variety, he acts like he is hearing Marilyn’s tidbits for the first time and his reactions are strong. He has a few instances where he brings us in superbly and gets us to see what Capote saw and what the experience was like: comparing Marilyn to the fading sunset, and relishing minute details of her behavior.
It’s a slice of life-celebrity life that is, which at times seems foreign, intriguing, tedious, self-indulging and arrogant, and occasionally real and moving. And maybe there’s something we can generalize from here and there and filter through our own lives and what we know became of theirs. Welcome to their world.
At 45 Bleecker St. theatre. Tues 9/4 @ 9:30pm; Wed 9/5 @ 7pm; Fri 9/7 @ 7pm; Sat 9/8 @ 9:30pm; Tues 9/11 at 7pm; Fri 9/14 @ 9:30pm; Sat 9/15 @ 3pm; Sun 9/16 @ 9:30pm. Presented by The Courthouse Theater Company and Michael Howard Studios. More on this show at www.abeautifulchildbytrumancapote.blogspot.com
Rob Lester is a freelance writer living in lovely N.Y.C., also contributing weekly to www.TalkinBroadway.com (Sound Advice, etc.), Cabaret Scenes Magazine, www.CabaretExchange.com and is a judge for the Nightlife Awards and next year’s Bistro Awards. He welcomes feedback at onthejobrob@gmail.com
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