“Is he just a left-winger? Is that his problem?” – President Richard Nixon
“I guess so.” – H.R. Haldeman
“Is he Jewish?” – Nixon
“I don’t know; doesn’t look it.” – H.R. Haldeman
“We’ve complained bitterly about the Cavett show.” – Charles Colsen
“Is there any way we could screw him? That’s what I mean. There must be ways.” – Nixon – The White
House Tapes
With few honest humans left in media and print these days,
Dick Cavett can be considered one of the most trusted men in America.
I mentioned to someone that I was going to see Dick Cavett
in a play. My uninformed confrère thought
Cavett was dead. I assured this individual that I wasn’t in the habit of
watching deceased actors work on stage – what with the smell and lack of
movement.
Theatre 40 of Beverly Hills and Michael J. Libow present Dick Cavett in
the West Coast Premiere of the Acclaimed New York Production of Hellman v.
McCarthy written by Brian Richard Mori, directed by Howard Storm, and Produced
by David Hunt Stafford through February 28th, 2015.
Dick Cavett has
lost the golden locks and the long sideburns that once accompanied him back in
the day but he has not lost his appeal, affable wit, and timing. One might call him nimble at this point in
his career.
There is no mistaking Cavett’s dulcet voice along with his dapper
appearance. The green sports coat suits him well this night. He is nicely tailored, and except for that
little tuff of hair protruding from the back of his scalp, he was perfectly
coiffed. That must a comedian trick, serious
but funny in the front, and slightly offbeat in the back.
A quick casual observation about Cavett is that he listens,
or appears to listen to everything others have to say, without judgment, and then
provides his own commentary with a nice little glib and blithe remark. It is
certainly a trademark of his character that we have come to thoroughly enjoy
over the years.
Cavett brings his fine acting chops on stage doing a few
impersonations, narrating the story, and telling a few jokes along the way. The
night was a very pleasant evening.
“I hope they don’t clap when he enters the stage. That would be so sit-com and really not the
rules of theatre in Los Angeles.” – Narrator
Okay, so this cue card guy comes out, begging us to applaud
as Cavett from The Dick Cavett Show strolls out on stage to tell a few
jokes. It is in the moment, I tell
myself, and I can live with that, so I break all my rules and begrudgingly clap.
Following Cavett’s wonderful opening monologue, the play
starts in earnest with a couple, upstage right, sitting at a small dinning
table. A cantankerous old bird, Lillian Hellman (Flora Plumb), and her too-eager-to-please
gay nurse Ryan (M. Rowan) are in a stirring game of Scrabble. Despite Hellman’s egregious cheating, with
lettered tiles flying here and there, Ryan manages to get the best of her.
And, oh my, Hellman hates losing, at anything, so she unceremoniously
quits the game, tiles dropping off her every being. She turns to find out what
is on TV but there’s not much except The Dick Cavett Show on PBS, and with
guest author Mary McCarthy, a woman Hellman personally knows and holds exiguous
regard.
Already stewing from the recent Scrabble loss, Hellman wants
to see what that “witch”, Mary McCarthy, is doing.
Cavett goads McCarthy into some reckless gossip about good
writers and bad writers. McCarthy
latches onto the bad writers bit and mentions Hellman. Suddenly, Hellman is horrified
by the slander spewed forth from McCarthy’s lying Irish lips.
“Every word she writes is a lie, including “and” and “the.” - Mary McCarthy
Repulsed violently, Hellman’s ceremonious inclination is to dial
her attorney, Lester Marshal (John Combs). If only she could pick up the phone and dial. Shaking the thick black receiver of the
telephone, she demands that Marshal sue Cavett, WNET-TV, and McCarthy.
Marshal doesn’t think it’s a good idea and tells her so because
they “are friends.” And she should
listen to her friends.
“I don’t pay my friends.” Hellman
Ouch.
Despite McCarthy’s stinging remarks Marshal does what he is
paid to do and employs the argument in court that Hellman is not a public
figure.
Notwithstanding, there is a great deal to like in Brian Richard Mori’s play. At first glance one wonders about the
complexity of the drama. But looking
back, after taking a deep breath, one finds a fascinating play dealing with the
gradations of truth; moments that are part of the record, moments that may have
happened, and moments that are outright fabrication.
One of the finest parts of this play is the scene when Hellman
and McCarthy meet. Hellman is looking for an apology but verbally
dukes it out with McCarthy. Moments
later, Cavett, the most trusted man in America, says that scene never happened.
It is with certitude that playwriting can only give us a
fair representation of the actual truth. That’s fair to say. But what are we to make of an entire scene
that is completely false but so much fun? And while Mori’s drama does not take
us deep into the psyche of the characters, there is enough here to make it an
enjoyable evening. Yes, it most certainly was.
Dick Cavett does
an impressive job this night. And it’s
really not much of a stretch to play Dick Cavett if you are, in fact, Dick
Cavett. There is also that mischievous grin of his when he is caught in an erratic
boat of comment unpredictability, floating in unchartered waters, without a
paddle, now leaking like a sieve, and wondering how he is going to get out. He takes everything in stride, comments with a
wry sense of humor, and exits, stage left. Mostly, he brings the background of his
character and with him that rich history of his entire being. Also, Cavett is
also open for a few questions after the performance and I enjoyed every minute
of it.
Flora Plumb is delightful
playing Lillian Hellman. The truth plays out in grand fashion in her
portrayal. Her performance moved in the
direction of her dying which was the overriding characterization of her persona. But Hellman finds enough life in her bite to rise
above her current ills and sue her counterpart.
And watching McCarthy squirm must have delighted her to no end but we
see little of that choice in Plumb on this night. Fighting the pain of age, a subdued stoicism
was a part of her character but offers her little opportunity to do anything
else. Also, the Betty Davis slap to her nurse does not progress the scene, the
relationship, or the play, and seems slightly out of character for a woman who
let her words devour her enemies to death. On this opening weekend, Hellman’s
relationship to the nurse needed work and hopefully a happy medium will be
found by the time you see the play. Hellman’s reposeful expression should not
be evident until the final victory is hers. The character work is
excellent. One wishes she wasn’t dying
through the course of the night. Also, and as an aside, Plumb is much too
attractive to play Hellman who wasn’t known for turning heads.
Marcia Rodd, as Mary
McCarthy, has a very strong voice and commanding presence that she maintains
throughout the play. McCarthy, a former
Vassar College student, writer, critic, and educator, kept her on-camera
persona throughout. Giving her an off-screen
persona will have provided Rodd with more nuances to the character. Finding
ways to bring her history on stage would help to define her character. Also,
McCarthy must be in the lawyer’s office for a reason, maybe she is running out
of money or she is trying to find a way out without losing her sanity. The suit
is destroying her life, and her way of life. She says it in words, but the pain in Rodd’s
performance does not appear deep, and she is not desperate to end the lawsuit,
even though it is killing her character emotionally and financially. That aside, Rodd has an incredibly strong
voice and is very likeable on stage.
John Combs plays
Lester Marshal, Hellman’s attorney and does a fine job. Combs is affable and in
the moment. As Marshal, he finds a way to attack giving his client a reason for
being. Marshal can be sinister in the ways he deals with others around him and
maybe he could go a little farther with the intimate details of the character.
Martin Thompson
is enjoyable as Bert Fielding, McCarthy’s attorney. He is the low-budget attorney of the group but
really doesn’t get much mileage in the relationship to the high power attorney
counterpart. Still, there were some nice little exchanges between the two.
M.Rowan Meyer is
very likeable as Ryan, Hellman’s nurse. Other than taking care of Hellman, Meyer’s
approach to the character didn’t find the right connection on this particular
night. There must be a reason that he is there, that he puts up with her, that
he stays with her through thick and thin and it just can’t be the money. The
difficult task for this actor is to find out why he is there and why he is attracted
to stay in the relationship. Finding a
creative objective would give him more mileage.
Love is a great equalizer and Ryan must find way to love her, despite
the fact that he is gay, to care for her emotionally, physically, and mentally. And Ryan being gay didn’t move the play in
any direction. He could have easily been
straight, another race, female, transgendered, and that would not have changed the
objective of the character on this particular night. That said Meyer is a very engaging young man
with a very strong appeal and in the emotional moment. His scene with Cavett was spot on and
extremely funny.
Howard Storm, the
director, gives us the moments we so desperately need when venturing out into
the theatre night air. The “slap” is a moment that needs reworking. There is a little bit of creativity and
ingenuity needed for the scene when McCarthy and Hellman discuss their previous
relationship with each telling the exact story.
Having them intertwined, and in each other’s space, would have brought
more life into that scene. Also in the
apology scene, having them on opposite ends of the table lessened the degree of
the dramatic conflict needed in that scene. Also, I don’t think I’ve ever seen
two attorneys in a room who haven’t exhausted civility, and are on the edge of
trading blows, in words or in emotional deed.
David Hunt Stafford
is the wonderful Producer of this show and a guiding light at Theatre 40.
Other members of the valuable crew are as follows:
Rhonda Lord – Assistant to the Director
Bill Froggatt – Stage Manager
Richard Carner – Assistant Stage Manager
Jeff G. Rack – Set Designer
Michele Young – Costume Designer
Ric Zimmerman – Lighting Designer
Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski – Sound Designer
Run! Run! Run! And
take someone who loves talk shows.
Theatre 40
In the Reuben Cordova Theatre
241 S. Moreno Drive
Bevely Hills, CA
90212
Reservations: 310-364-3606
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