The Boston Court Theatre in Pasadena is a delightful space that caters to excellent choices for production.
Tesshi Nakagawa's lush tropical set features the verandah of the Casa Verde Hotel. A huge tree upstage ominously looming. The silhouette changes as time goes by. Spectacular.
Maxine Faulk's (Julanne Chidi Hill) husband has died leaving Mrs. Faulk to run the Hotel. At rise, she is, evidently, a very Merry Widow trystijng enthusiastically with one of the Mexican guys who do chores at the hotel. Pedro and Pancho (Juan De La Cruz and Michael G.Martinez) Erupting from her tryst, Mrs. Faulk explodes with a shout down the hill, hailing her old friend: The Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon: (basso Riley Shanahan).
Shannon is exhausted with fever and drink. He is a tour guide who has gotten himself in trouble with a sixteen year old honey bunny in his tour group.
Jessica Kubzansky's direction has the actors at full voice from the start. Shannon is up against it with fever and things are going south way faster than he would like.. Faced with rebuke from tour sponsor Miss Fellows (delightfully doing double duty Ann Noble also as Frau Fahrenkopf) there's a lot of shouting going on.
It's 1940 and the Germans romping at the hotel may be Nazis, but this is vacationland and the only politics on hand is Shannon's struggle to save his rearend.. and his job.
What fate lies ahead for Shannon turns on dealing with his demon, The Spook of his imagination and opportunities with Maxine, the one note widow who loves Shannon and needs a partner.
With the problems brewing with Miss Fellows and the tour falling to pieces,we meet Hannah Jelkes (Jully Lee) and her 97 year old poet / grandfatther, Nono (Jonnathan Coffin). Penniless and tired.
A trend in shows I've seen over recent years has swung to 'diversty casting' which gives audiences the challenge of accepting characters that may once have been signular ethnicity characters because we had not yet become woke.. Now the choice to cast other ethnicities works if you can re-tune your initial understanding of characters who once were probably caucasian to another channel.
As Miss Jelkes, Ms Lee is smooth as silk. Shepherding her 97 year old grandfather who is hard at work on his ultimate poem. Ms Lee's portrayal is seamless. It works if you can buy that an Asian woman/artist shows up and is dependent on the kindness of strangers.(To coin a phrase)..
The tragedy of Shannon"s issues is handled well by Ms Jelkes, but for a woman with so many pressing responsibilities, she was, at leas for me, too beautiful and too cool and hardly desperate. These are truly desperate times.. No funds. The end of the trail as Nono composes his epic and final poem.
The discomfort in this review is that this Iguana is a very well done production. The beautiful set really works. The whole business of the iguana and Shannon's issues and his attraction to Jelkes and all is still just a little off.
Certainly, Williams' Iguana characters are compelling. The theme of release and new beginnings symbolized by the feed iguana is clear. The completion of Nono's poem is poignant.
The beauty of this Boston Court presentation is the attention to detail. Every aspect of the production has been met, but for me, I wanted to care more about Nono and somehow sympathize with Shannon.
Chilled by air conditioning to see a steamy tropical play might have biased my take. My reviews are always about the whole experience. Fact is that this is a production totally worth seeing and I hope audiences will attend.
It's a Tennessee Williams play and finding the stuff in it, while a bit challenging for me, it is very worthy ..
Cast
Pancho: Michael G. Martinez
Maxine: Julanne Chidi Hill
Pedro: Juan De La Cruz
The Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon: Riley Shanahan
Wolfgang: George Vagujhelyi
Hilda: Isabella Feliciana
Herr Fahrenkopf: Christian Haines
Frau Fahrenkopf: Ann Noble
Hank: Juan De La Cruz
Miss Fellows: Ann Noble
Charlotte: Isabella Feliciana
Hannah Jelkes: Jully Lee
Nonno (Jonathan Coffin): Dennis Dun
Jake Latta: Christian Haines
Creative Team
Director - Jessica Kubzansky
Assistant Director - Eric Swartz
Scenic Design - Tesshi Nakagawa
Costume Design - Denitsa Bliznakova
Assistant Costume Design - Linda Litchy-Cervantes
Lighting Design - Kaitlin Trimble
Sound Design/Composition - John Zalewski
Properties Design - Jenna Scordino
Intimacy Director - Carly DW Bones
Fight Director - Edgar Landa
Dialect Coach - Matthew Floyd Miller
Casting Director - Victor Vazquez
Production Manager - Jasmine Kalra
Production Stage Manager - Jasmine Leung
Assistant Stage Manager - Jaclyn Gehringer
The Night of the Iguana
By Tennessee Williams
Boston Court Theatre
Pasasdena, California
Opened Saturday, September 20 at 7:30 p.m.,
Performances on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. Sundays at 2 p.m. through October 19. on the same schedule.
Tickets range from $10 to $72, including fees
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