Theater Review
There’s something intriguing about a play that promises to simulate New York’s East River in one of the largest sets ever created for the Ahmanson, where you might get splashed as the characters cannonball into a six-ft.-deep orchestra pit filled with more than 10,000 gallons of water. And there’s something remarkable about experiencing the depth and height of James Noone’s richly textured “Dead End” set’four-story brick tenement buildings fitted with fire escapes, and juxtaposed with a marble Beaux Arts apartment complex. But as I sat in the front row of the Center Theatre Group’s revival production of Sidney Kingsley’s 1935 broadway hit, with a towel draped across my lap, the awe of the dramatic design quickly gave way to the baffling absence of a stimulating story and cohesive performances. By the first, early intermission, not much had happened at the wharf overlooking the East River except for a playful and energetic water show by the roughhousing Dead End Kids. Oh, and gangster Baby Face Martin (Jeremy Sisto), a former Dead End Kid, had returned to his old turf with the sentimental, albeit suspicious, look of a man seeking to reclaim something he lost. The gimpy gentle-looking guy sketching in the corner (also a former Dead End Kid) had yet to make the point of his character’s presence known. All of the main characters in “Dead End” have lost something’a mother, a childhood, an opportunity to escape the slums, a sense of hope. But while we sympathize with Tommy (Ricky Ullman), the leader of the Dead End Kids, whose boyish charm and honorable strength inspire his less fortunate and less brave friends, we don’t really understand or care about the pathetic Gimpty (Tom Everett Scott), an out-of-work architect who dreams of revitalizing the slum with a community housing project. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Kingsley (“Men in White”) was apparently “the first American dramatist to bring the mean streets of modern city life to the Broadway stage” by illuminating the devastating realities of the Depression, including the filthy living conditions of America’s poor and the common criminal fate of slum kids. When “Dead End” premiered on Broadway in the midst of the Depression, it earned one of the longest runs in Broadway history at the time, and had a profound social impact; First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt saw the production three times and FDR subsequently created a commission on slum housing. Unfortunately, the play’s political message fails to grip us, even though the issues of poverty and class divisions are particularly relevant in Los Angeles, which has the highest recidivism rate in the country. Perhaps the problem is that we aren’t moved by the characters or their co-existence in the spectacular setting. The mother-son relationship between Baby Face Martin and Mrs. Martin (Joyce Van Patten) feels forced and hastily developed. And the unbelievable love affair between Gimpty and Kay (Sarah Hudnut) is even more unemotional. One relationship that does work is that of Tommy and his protective, thick-skinned sister Drina (Kathryn Hahn), who struggles with the responsibility of raising him. Hahn and Ullman establish a believeable relationship that helps develop their individual characters. We see where Tommy learns his values and we therefore believe in his sincerity when he faces a big decision that decides his fate. Drina seems to be the best role model for Tommy’better than the depressing Gimpty and Baby Face Martin, who represent two different “futures” for Dead End Kids. The other notable performance is that of Sisto (of “Six Feet Under”) who humanizes his stereotypical gangster character through his abrupt and awkward interactions with people, revealing some of his underlying pain. One of these exchanges is with his ex-flame Francey (Pamela Gray). In a well choreographed scene, Sisto and Gray momentarily reconnect as they move around the stage’just a few feet between them’and dance out the sorrows of their fates. The only problem is that this emotionally jarring scene feels disconnected from the rest of the play. As the inaugural production of the Center Theatre Group’s new artistic director Michael Ritchie, “Dead End” might send the wrong message to dedicated Music Center theatergoers, especially if the play truly is what Ritchie called “a personal calling card of my theatrical taste.” With a cast of 42 actors (including 14 students from the USC School of Theatre) and an elaborate set that’s earned more talk than the actual production, the show is startlingly empty in its meaning. And even if the production succeeds in entertaining an audience with its live “East River,” one has to wonder if that much water wouldn’t be better utilized somewhere else, like in water-deprived California. “Dead End,” directed by Nicholas Martin, runs through October 16 at the Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave. Tickets are $20 to $75. Contact: (213) 628-2772 or CenterTheatreGroup.org.
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