{"id":246100,"date":"2013-05-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-battle-of-words-wills\/"},"modified":"2013-05-10T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-10T07:00:00","slug":"a-battle-of-words-wills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-battle-of-words-wills\/","title":{"rendered":"A battle of words & wills"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/strong>Dazzling company adds to \u2018Other Desert Cities\u2019 success<\/p>\n

Por Charlene Baldridge | <\/strong>Cr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN<\/p>\n

Jon Robin Baitz\u2019s 2011 Broadway hearth drama \u201cOther Desert Cities\u201d is set on Christmas Eve 2004. The Wyeth family \u2013 or at least what\u2019s left of it \u2013 gathers at the elder Wyeths\u2019 luxurious Palm Springs home.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Kandis Chappell, Robin Pearson Rose, Dana Green, Andy Bean and Robert Foxworth (Photo by Snaps Studio)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With its view towards the mountains, freestanding fireplace and spacious grace, Alexander Dodge\u2019s multilevel set is breathtaking. So is York Kennedy\u2019s lighting, which allows the audience to witness the passage of time as the family parries, thrusts and pontificates.<\/p>\n

A staunch Republican patriarch Lyman Wyeth (Old Globe Associate Artist Robert Foxworth) is a retired diplomat and a former movie actor. His acerbic wife Polly \u2013 surely the mother from hell \u2013 is played by Associate Artist Kandis Chappell, longtime portrayer of powerful women. Polly\u2019s major joy is verbal attack and destruction, all in the name of love and betterment, of course. Lyman\u2019s tactic is avoidance.<\/p>\n

Gathered around are Polly\u2019s sister Silda (Associate Artist Robin Pearson Rose), recently released from rehab and living on the family largess; the Wyeths\u2019 adult son, Trip (Andy Bean), who produces television reality shows; and the adult daughter, Brooke (Dana Green), who\u2019s had her share of breakdowns over the past six years (she lives in a cottage in Long Island\u2019s Sag Harbor), has emerged triumphant with a book manuscript under her arm.<\/p>\n

The book is a memoir, not a novel like her first success. A familiar plot device, Brooke seeks not so much to gain her relatives\u2019 approval and permission, as to forewarn them. The memoir concerns her late brother\u2019s suicide and places the blame where it lies, at least in her reality.<\/p>\n

The ensuing dialogue, a battle of words and wills, is exceptionally funny and appallingly deadly. Fetid secrets are excavated and onlookers\u2019 sympathies are knocked around like ping-pong balls. Who is sane? Who is pure? Who is culpable? Who is the most grotesque?<\/p>\n

As fascinating as it is disturbingly familiar, the play scrutinizes right-wing politics, the Iraq war and the secrets, alliances and motivations of family. None comes out smelling like a rose.<\/p>\n

Richard Seer, who has been director of The Globe-USD graduate theatre program for 20 years, proves once again that he is a fearless explorer of the human psyche. His company is dazzling. Also to be applauded are costume designer Charlotte Devaux\u2019s Palm Springs casual attire and Paul Peterson\u2019s sound.<\/p>\n

At the time of the play\u2019s New York premiere, it was praised and Baitz\u2019s return after a long time fallow was applauded; he was away in TV land with \u201cBrothers & Sisters,\u201d fighting his own battles.<\/p>\n

From an interview in The Old Globe program, it appears that the Wyeths\u2019 several demons are, in certain measure, Baitz\u2019s as well. Such intensity is intellectually stimulating as well as exhausting. One could return countless times and still not get it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther Desert Cities\u201d<\/strong>
\nWHERE: The Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way (Balboa Park)<\/strong>
\nWHEN: Sun., Tues. and Wed. at 7 p.m., Thurs. \u2013 Sat. at 8 p.m., and Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. through June 2<\/strong>
\nINFO: 619-23-GLOBE<\/strong>
\nWEB: theoldglobe.org<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dazzling company adds to \u2018Other Desert Cities\u2019 success By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theater Critic Jon Robin Baitz\u2019s 2011 Broadway hearth drama \u201cOther Desert Cities\u201d is set on Christmas Eve 2004. The Wyeth family \u2013 or at least what\u2019s left of it \u2013 gathers at the elder Wyeths\u2019 luxurious Palm Springs home.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A battle of words & wills","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}