In his new play titled “Unusual Acts of Devotion” (at La Jolla Playhouse through June 28), quadruple Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally writes a veritable paean to New York\u2019s Greenwich Village, specifically the apartment building at 218 W. 10th, the one with the water tower on top. Additionally, McNally\u2019s play, packed with endearing characters, is an ode to the imperfect ways in which we love one another and fail each other and ourselves. Rife with humor, the night is fraught with revelations, helicopter searchlights and a power failure, all witnessed by a dark angel that hovers above the celebrants. Nadine (Maria Dizzia) and her diabetic, Italian husband Leo (Joe Manganiello) are celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary. He\u2019s taken a night off from the jazz club where he plays clarinet. Nadine is expecting their first child. She\u2019s sensitive and brainy; he\u2019s a lug. They love each other enormously and care deeply for their neighbors despite a lot of machismo bravado on Leo\u2019s part. He tenderly rubs the legs of the elderly Mrs. Darnell (five-time Emmy Award-winner Doris Roberts), who worked in a liquor store at Bleecker and Christopher Street. Though she tells the least, she knows the secrets of the building and its longtime tenants. She even reads the occasional palm. Tonight, though, she dozes a lot and she waxes philosophic, especially in her final speech, which sends theatergoers home wondering what they have just witnessed, as well as what they might have witnessed had there been no blackout\u2014just like life. Each of us hopes the in-box is empty when the end comes; that all issues are worked out; that every word of love \u2014 to life and to loved ones \u2014 has been spoken. Richard Thomas, known to millions for his Emmy Award-winning portrayal of John-Boy on “The Waltons,” is a fine stage actor as well, something perhaps unknown to those who don\u2019t live on the East Coast. He portrays Chick Hogan, a tour-bus raconteur who loves his job and still mourns for his AIDS-stricken partner, Aaron, who leaped to his death from this very roof. Years ago, Chick and English teacher Josie Shelton (Harriet Harris, who received a Tony Award as Mrs. Meers in the Playhouse-originated “Thoroughly Modern Millie”) had a love affair and thought they might marry and have children. That was before she introduced him to Aaron. As she pours her fourth glass of wine, having just returned from an extended stay in rehab, Josie says, “I\u2019m not an alcoholic, I just had a slight problem with prescription medications.” UCSD third-year MFA student Evan Powell (excellent as the Wolf in “Picked” during the recent Baldwin New Play Festival) plays the non-speaking Man on the water tower. McNally treats his five fully drawn characters with great compassion. They are as endearing as the guests gathered in “Love! Valour! Compassion!” Trip Cullman, who did such a grand job staging the Old Globe\u2019s “Six Degrees of Separation” earlier this season, creates a solid ensemble that trips the fantastic exceedingly well, literally and figuratively. He directs with deep understanding of these supremely flawed people. It\u2019s not a perfect play, either. Cullman and McNally very nearly sabotage forward momentum with our awareness of the Man\u2019s movements. The production team is tops. Santo Loquasto\u2019s set is as gorgeous as any seen hereabouts of late, a section of the tarred rooftop with its tower and angular entry from down below, the cityscape spread out in the distance. The passage of time is breathtaking as delineated by lighting designer Ben Stanton, whose power failure and searchlights are equally well done. Jess Goldstein provides contemporary rags for all. Particularly admired is Nadine\u2019s lovely summer sundress. The sound by John Gromada is luscious, with rotors and boom box piercing the night with the city and the jazz, and finally with the Edith Piaf, as requested by Mrs. Darnell. For ticket prices and times, call (858) 550-1010 or visit lajollaplayhouse.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In his new play titled “Unusual Acts of Devotion” (at La Jolla Playhouse through June 28), quadruple Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally writes a veritable paean to New York\u2019s Greenwich Village, specifically the apartment building at 218 W. 10th, the one with the water tower on top. Additionally, McNally\u2019s play, packed with endearing characters, is […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":284760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11560","_seopress_titles_title":"ROOFTOP?RHAPSODY","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11560,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-la-jolla-village-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284759","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=284759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/284759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/284760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=284759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=284759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=284759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}