Actors Theatre of Phoenix' The Baltimore Waltz at Herberger Theatre Stage West
(out of 
)Mark S.P. Turvin
(home office) (602) 912-0117
I can be reached for comment via e-mail at: mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Reviewed 10/16/99
(out of )Paula Vogel is a playwright who has the wonderful gift of balancing the humorous with the heartbreaking, and the theatrical with the empathetic. Prior to winning the Pulitzer Prize with her uncomfortably-themed How I Learned to Drive, she cut her teeth on the AIDS allegory, The Baltimore Waltz. While not as polished as her later work, and containing similar stylistic choices of educational distancing and direct contact with the audience, this is a play that is obviously more personal, since its subject of a brother and sister dealing with AIDS has a basis in her own life. With its tough themes and somewhat avant garde feel, it's a natural choice for Actors Theatre of Phoenix.
A sheltered Baltimore first grade teacher discovers she has been stricken with the mysterious ATD, a fatal and incurable disease spread by toilet seats. Together with her homosexual brother, she embarks on a whirlwind tour of Europe. She does this to experience life in every base and carnal way that she has denied herself over the past 36 years, and he accompanies her to help her find the elusive cure in the back rooms of shady doctors and medical quacks. It's full of biting humor and barely-veiled references to the AIDS epidemic, but more importantly, it explores the intricate relationship between these two almost uncomfortably close siblings.
The job of bringing together this fast-paced and sometimes confusing show has been given to talented ASU Professor of Directing, Victoria Holloway. Whereas How I Learned to Drive has a leisurely southern pacing that counters its urgency, Ms. Holloway has recognized the faster-paced Baltimore sensibility that infuses this darkly desperate play. She has let the actors scurry through their snapshot interactions in a way that, save for a stretch of the show near the end where it becomes almost overwhelming, captures the ticking-time bomb flow perfectly. She has also loaded the production with three talented local actors, and an equally impressive import, making for a great ensemble.
It's almost becoming a standard start to her description, but the abundantly-talented Cathy Dresbach is once again wonderful as the suddenly awakened schoolteacher, Anna. Her mad dash from initial death sentence to final understated acceptance of her true fate is masterfully handled. She invests herself completely in her character's wild emotional mood swings and antic behavior. As her loving brother, Carl, J.R. Robinson avoids gay stereotypes while presenting a strong-willed brother with ulterior motivations. In his myriad of roles, Jon Gentry does a great job as he magically transforms from staid medical doctor to German nihilist, and from thumb-in-dyke Dutch boy to a Dr. Even-Stranger-Love. Finally, in his smaller supporting roles, ASU graduate Ken Matthews lends the color necessary for each scene to advance.
Rosario Provenza's Set Design is ominously perfect, sterile and surprising, while Paul A. Black's lighting is as filmic and scene-setting as textually required. Constance Furr-Soloman's costumes perfectly peg character and situation, while Darin Stillman's Sound Design and Cat Dragon's Property Design are on-target and well-handled.
There are some moments of textual excess, obscurity and lack of polish, exemplified by the sudden disappearance of the "guidebook theme" midway through the show and the liberal unnamed references to such movies as The Third Man and Dr. Strangelove. There is also the problem of pacing that occasionally leaves the audience bewildered, trying to catch up with the double-time march of the script and stumbling with the sudden reversals of situation near the end. Despite these problems, this is a wonderful production of a touching script, and a perfect contrast to last season's ATC production of How I Learned to Drive that exemplifies the welcome differences between these professional companies.
Production Details:
The Baltimore Waltz by Paula
Vogel
Actors Theatre of Phoenix
The Herberger Theatre Stage West, Phoenix
(602) 252-8497
October 15th - October 31st, 1999