By Joe Straw
“He treated her with his chaffing deference, roused, but very unsure of
himself, afraid to death of being too forward, ashamed lest he might be thought
backward, mad with desire yet restrained by instinctive regard for women from
making any definite approach, feeling all the while that his attitude was
ridiculous, and flushing deep with confusion.
She, however, became hard and daring as he became confused, it amused
her to see him come on.” – D. H. Lawrence – The Rainbow
I loved the movie Sideways and the outstanding performances of
Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church (Oscar nominated performance), Sandra Oh, and,
in it, some of Virginia Madsen’s finest work on screen.
When the opportunity to see the world premier of Sideways –
The Play by Rex Pickett and directed by Amelia Mulkey at The Ruskin Group
Theatre Co. in Santa Monica came along, I jumped at it. Well, jump is not
really an effective word. After all,
it’s been running for over twenty weeks. (Nice jumping.)
Judith Borne, the publicist, jarred my memory. And it was a pleasant wake up call. I grabbed my pad and marched to the theatre. But,
when I got there, nobody knew who I was, or where I came from. (It’s not the first time.) When this happens to
me I can actually feel the blood moving to my face, the heat rising to the
surface, and everything in my body just gets a little tense. And I thought: Wouldn’t it be nice to have a
nice glass of Pinot noir right now?
Lucky, Michael R. Myers, managing director of the Ruskin
Group Theatre Company, came to my rescue.
Other than having a few glasses from time to time, I know little
about wines. In fact, picking out the right wine for the right occasion terrifies
me. It is almost as horrific as beginnings of a new relationship.
And learning about a wine is like developing and
experiencing the first intimate moments of a relationship. A great start is the
pouring of the wine, by gently caressing the bottle, and ending the pour with a
twist. Next, take a cotton cloth and wipe
the liquid from the mouth of the bottle.
Then, hold the stem of the wine glass with two fingers and a thumb. Slowly, swirl the wine on a flat surface,
like a slow dance, to stoke the wine’s innumerable aromas. Notice the color. And
then, still caressing the stem, place the round glass bowl to your nose and inhale
deeply to get the aromatic gratification. After the sip, roll the wine around in your
mouth and make sure it coats all surfaces so that you can pick up the textures
and flavor sensations in the various parts of your mouth.
Rex Pickett, the author of the novel and the play, is at the
theatre every night pouring the wine, telling stories, and supporting the play.
And what a better way to learn about wine than to go right to the source, ask
him a few questions, and see his play, Sideways The Play.
Miles (John Colella) is a down on his luck writer, recently
divorced, depressed, and is not getting laid. (It is, by all measures, a very
unhealthy combination.)
His best friend Jack (Jonathan Bray), a Mar Vista resident,
is getting married in a week to a very rich woman, Babs (not seen on stage, but
presence, heavily felt). So Jack decides
to finance a trip to San Ynez wine country with his best friend Miles. This is
a slight ruse, as Jack wants a bachelor party, have his last fling, and get
laid by someone other than his fiancée. (Fair enough.)
There’s a problem; Miles wants the trip to be about the
wines, the Pinot noirs and nothing else.
But Jack isn’t having any part of his semi reclusive, soul-searching,
deprecating venture. Jack wants to have fun.
Chris (Paul Denk) greets them at the first winery and asks
Miles about his book. They all seem to know Miles in this part of the country and
they all know that his book is unpublished.
After Chris pours, Miles demonstrates the steps of wine
tasting. Miles notes the Pinot noir has a kiwi flavor and is “pornographically
good”. They like the wine and Jack buys a case for $450.00 but grumbles about
the price.
When Chris runs off into the back, Miles and Jack empty the remains
of the bottle, drink, and run out of the winery.
In their next stop, Miles takes Jack to The Hitching Post
Bar. Charlie (Carl Kocis), the bartender, questions Miles about his unpublished
book. (These guys seem to have fantastic memories. Or, maybe Miles, talks about
himself a lot.) Anyway Miles tells
Charlie that Jack is getting married next week, much to Jacks dismay that wants
all of this to be a best-kept secret.
“Pinot?” – Charlie
“Nice to be out.” – Miles
Maya (Julia McIlvaine) enters the room, doing her job, and
immediately Jack thinks she’s a good fit for Miles. But Miles knows her.
“She’s married to a lit professor from Santa Barbara.” – Miles
Jack, sensing a separation.
“She’s probably divorced.” – Jack
Suddenly Maya sees Miles.
There is an immediate sensual connection and she tells him that she is
reading Jung. She lets it known that she divorced her husband because he is a “fornicating
deconstructionist”.
Maya, sensing an opening and magnetism, invites Miles out
dancing.
“You told Maya we’re going back to the motel and crash?” – Jack
As they are driving back to the motel Jack, blood rising to
his surface can’t believe what Miles has just done. Suddenly Jack gets a call from Babs, hangs up,
and calls her “f**cking b**ch”. Jack has
to break the bad news that Babs does not want Miles to be his best man nor does
she want him at the wedding.
Jack says he will talk to Babs to get her to change her
mind. In the meantime Peter, the other
best man, is waiting in the wings.
At the Foxen Winery the next day Miles and Jack meet Tara (Cloe
Kromwell). Jack is immediately smitten with Tara. And Miles is miles away thinking
about his ex-wife, Vicky and wishing her well on her new marriage. It is a
lonely conversation he carries on with himself.
Nevertheless Jack is on a mission of his own. He tells Miles they have been invited out to
dinner and asks Miles not to sabotage his mission and not to speak French.
“They’re beautiful. Let them
order.” – Jack
“No Merlot.” – Miles
“No Babs. Pace yourself.” – Jack
So the four of them are having dinner when Miles steps away
and calls his ex-wife. She tells him not to come to the wedding sending Miles
plane on a tailspin. Jack finds him and tells Miles that they are all going
back to Tara’s house for wine and other things.
Jack and Tara find the back room and start making out like
wild chinchillas. Meanwhile Miles and Maya are getting acquainted about wines and books
and having a nice time. But Miles is still
hurting about his ex getting remarried.
And soon, with all the noise going on in the next room, Miles, rather
awkwardly, leaves for his motel.
The next morning Jack tells Miles he fallen in love with
Tara and wants to move up here. Jack tells them they have a hot tub date that
night and they are going. Miles is
falling in line, wants to see Maya again, and they have a great time until the
next morning when Miles spills the beans.
John Colella as Miles
is delightful as the presumptuous wordsmith and wine connoisseur. As a writer he demonstrably uses the adjective
to its nauseating utmost. He gives us words to wet our pallet and shares his
knowledge to fill our glass. But he is kind of corny as well. He is
the master teacher and uses his skills to refine the Neanderthal that
accompanies him. Miles is very unassuming when it comes to love, not sure of
himself, and presumes to be a loser of love. Colella captures the right spirits
of this self-deprecating character.
Jonathan Bray
plays Jack, the man who accompanies his friend to the wine country with only
one thought on his mind, and it ain’t the wine. He is getting married to
someone who has a lot of money. And he wants his last bit of freedom with
someone who is not going to be his wife. Bray hits all of the right notes.
Julia McIlvaine
as Maya is quite good and I enjoyed her performance. As the character she is
into romance, plain and simple, books and wine are just the one added accouterment
to the mix. McIlvaine is very strong in her quiet moments. Victories won and battles lost are moments
that are not lost to the audience. It is
all part of the quiet actor’s craft that you take home with you. All in all a
very nice performance.
Cloe Kromwell as
Terra really falls head over heels with her counterpart. One never really knows if it is true love, or
the wine. I suspect true love. But she falls so fast. Kromwell speaks with a
slight accent. There is a reference to
speaking French so it was probably a French accent. I thought I heard an
Italian accent as well. Still Kromwell gives a delightful performance.
Kristelle Monterrosa
as Libby is very cute and does a nice job in-between all of the scenes. But
there is more here that is slightly enticing of her performance on stage, it is
the way she moves, the dance that entices, the wink, the nod, the movement of
her hands and feet that take her from one position and completes her
objective. Very nicely done. She makes most of her moments on stage,
getting on and getting off, and doing it wonderfully.
Carl Kocis as
Charlie also did a lot of fine work on stage.
Kocis has a very nice stage presence and seems to enjoy every moment on
stage. His enthusiasm was infectious.
The same holds true for Hamilton
Matthews as Brad. Actually he has a picturesque
quality of a Hatfield or McCoy and would fit fine for work in those roles. He struts on stage as though he were stomping
on dirt clods in the family garden. But he
does this for a purpose when he is moving around set pieces. Matthews has some wonderful moments as Brad
and a terrific gun scene.
The alternates who did not perform the night I was there
were Ashley Love (Maya), Ashley Noel (Terra), Elizabeth Mulkey (Libby), Bram Barough (Brad), and Kevin Wyrauch (Chris)
Amelia Mulkey,
the director, did an exceptional job and I particularly liked the action
between scenes when the supporting characters were changing the scenes. It work
and no momentum were lost during those changes. Simply put, this is a story
about relationships. The wine is an integral
part and in Mulkey’s direction and the wine never leaves our sight. It is the
aroma, the bite that stays with us and is part of the life of these characters.
(And just a small note.) There is a reason Miles takes Jack to The Hitching
Post. Miles is there to see Maya. It is
a moment that needs definition between the three of them when Maya steps into
the room. Maybe it was there, but I
didn’t see it on this night. But, it was funny to see how Jack immediately sees the connection
and Miles doesn’t.
Rex Pickett does
a fine job converting his novel into a play. There are a lot of differences
between the movie and the play and most of the differences in this play worked.
There is a boar-hunting scene, which
represents the foolish things men do when they’ve had more than enough.
CJ Strawn did a magnificent job with the Set Design. It is such a small, intimate stage, to have a
number of locations represented, was very good work.
Run to see this fantastic play before it closes on October
28th, 2012. You can fall in love with the characters all over again
and spend the night thinking about the wines and wonderful relationships.
This fine production would not have been possible without
the crew behind the curtain. And those
people are:
John Ruskin – Artistic Director
Michael Myers – Producer/Managing Director
Mike Reilly – Producer/Production Manager/Lighting Design
Jason Matthews – Producer
Nicole Millar – Assistant Director
Dan Speaker and Jan Bryant – Fight Choreography (Nice fight
scene.)
Lola Kelly – Costumes
Run! And take someone
with a nice aroma.
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