Living Room Theatre in North Bennington, Vt.
Written and directed by Randolyn Zinn
“Girlie, you can’t do a thing with this.”
Randolyn Zinn, author and director of this new play, “Get It Right,” has personally experienced Hollywood and its machinations. As a result, her play has a ring of authenticity. She paints the picture of a slightly successful New York playwright being hauled out to California on a speculative job that she has already completed in preparation for the interview. Ivy Foster, her character, is ready for whatever comes, but what actually comes she is not prepared to confront. Therein lies the comedy. The tragedy is what comes afterward.
Valeri Mudek plays Ivy. She is a forthright actress with a great voice and a body that springs into action on a moment’s notice. Her narrative speeches, in telling us the story of her experiences, are so clear and clean that she almost embraces the Grimm Brothers in style, and her active interactions with other characters present her with a Keira Knightley beauty.
What emerges from the script and her performance of it is the simple fact that not everyone can be held in contempt for preferring a life in the arts that may, or may not, be as successful as one could wish for. Ivy undergoes no major transformation, but she does relax into the circumstances that surround her. Doing so, she realizes more than just a personal dream: She becomes the dream itself.
The film producers, Phil and Larry, are played by Allen McCullough and Richard Howe. Two more sleazy men could not possibly exist. They say what they must and stand behind none of it. They are the comedy team of the year, and the actors are more than able to make them delightfully hateful. They ignore what Ivy has for them, don’t hire her, and then present her with a car for the day. Their opinions are swayed by a disreputable director whose ego is as large as a circus tent and whose talent is the peanut shell on the tent’s dirt floor. He is played by Matt Dallal, who gives the man everything he needs to be both despicable and amusing. As he savages Ivy for her New York base, her gender, her talent, and her intentions, he makes his character, Sam, into the idea most of us have about Hollywood maniacs. I cannot think of anyone who would do a finer job playing this role. We see him as attractive, yet we hear him as objectionable. When Sam’s father’s money comes into the picture, all becomes clear and understandable.
Bill Mason, the movie star in career trouble, joins the cast; Ivy is soon a lost soul. He is playing the lead in this motion picture, and he hates what he is doing to resuscitate his status as a star. Ivy gives him a new reason to do what he must. Is it romance, or is it rationale? You have to see the play to find out. But as played by George Olesky, you will have an opportunity to do just that. He is a wonderful, sincere actor who makes every line resonate with truth. And with his shirt off, you just won’t care.
Two other actors play definitive roles in this play. Ivy’s mom, a phone call away, is played by Janis Young, and the New York actress, Chloe, who has the best costumes designed by Cynthia Flint, is played by Elizabeth Kenney. Both do very good work, but Kenney has multiple opportunities to shine, and shine she does.
Zinn has opened a new door into the theatrical experience with this play. She has given us the trauma of decision-making in the arts as well as the delightful and humorous experience of a true-to-life experience of her own (not completely as it turns out). The show’s limited run is a bit unfortunate, but the drive up to North Bennington is a beautiful one, and a show in a swimming pool is always an experience to relish. Try not to miss this one.
“Get It Right” plays in the swimming pool at the Park-McCullough mansion in North Bennington, Vt., through August 3. For information and tickets, visit Living Room Theatre’s website or call (802) 442-5322.
