The Joy Wheel

Reviewed by Deborah Klugman
Ruskin Group Theatre
Extended through March 31 

The Joy Wheel is an amiable situation comedy that deals with a crisis in the lives of an older married couple. Written by Ian McRae and directed by Jason Alexander, it’s one of those entertainment-minded vehicles that can come off as either a shallow on-stage sitcom, where garnering laughs is the performers’ main goal, or, if aptly directed, as an insightful comic portrayal of human fallibility.

Regrettably, on opening night, this premiere production at the Ruskin Group Theatre fell into the former category, with the two principal leads settling for caricature over depth. By contrast, an exemplary performance by Maury Sterling in the supporting role of a crazed right-wing survivalist could serve as reason to see the show.

Wed 40 years, Frank (Dann Florek) and Stella (Gina Hecht) have an abiding love and affection that’s recently been challenged by Frank’s decision, at the prompting of his pal Stew (Sterling), to convert their swimming pool into a cavernous bunker. The story begins a few hours before the recently retired Frank is scheduled to speak at his own retirement dinner, an event he’s anxiously been preparing for. He’s relying on Stella to accompany him, but she’s been out in the sun too long and acquired a monster burn. Arguing over whether she’ll attend, Stella starts to air complaints: her anger about the bunker, her dissatisfaction with their sex life, her desire to travel, specifically to Rome. We also learn that this rather sweet and conservative Catholic lady has joined an acting group that is preparing to do a show similar in name and substance to The Vagina Monologues — an idea that sits none too well with her traditional blue-collar spouse.

The narrative eventually expands to include the fanatical Stew, who berates Frank for his concern with Stella’s objections and urges him to “cut her loose,” and Margie (Lee Garlington), Stella’s more sophisticated friend who’s responsible for drawing her into the acting group and alerting her to the joys of non-missionary sex.

Neither profound nor complex, The Joy Wheel nonetheless has a number of things going for it: For starters, it’s an empathetic look at two older people who still care for each other but have drifted apart in significant ways. Although some of the riffs, like Stella’s sunburn, are carried too far and go on for too long, the relationship between husband and wife is sensitively drawn. Some of the dialogue is funny. And the playwright’s detour into the psyche of an anti-government zealot whose rantings, if heeded, would destroy Frank’s marriage, expands the play’s focus and effectively spotlights the misogyny and madness in our culture.

But these strengths are undercut by a glibness in the interchange between husband and wife, played to the familiar rhythms and cutesy shadings of television comedy. This is not something that works well in a venue as intimate as the Ruskin, where inauthenticity is easily magnified. And whereas Florek seems aptly cast, and given cogent direction (unhappily missing so far) could no doubt deliver on the needed nuance, Hecht struck me as the wrong actor for this particular role: it’s not that she lacks skill but that her personal aura seems too edgy and smart to squeeze comfortably into Stella’s warm housewifely simplicity. It makes her pretending seem all the more fake.

On the other hand, both Sterling and Garlington deliver in their respective roles. Garlington cuts a droll figure as a savvy woman who knows when to speak and when to hold her tongue. When Stew gets offensive, she puts him in his place. Sterling’s manic zealot is both comical and downright scary.

Alexander’s staging (aided by Edward Salas’s lighting design) works well, in particular the smooth transition between scenes within the small space. Scenic designer John Iacovelli’s use of a mobile set piece for the bunker scenes is a canny choice, but I had to wonder about his kitschy living room (reminiscent of the claustrophobic living rooms in South Philly where I’m from). Would people who lived in this modest dwelling, with tacky wallpaper and bargain-basement décor, have had the big wonderful suburban pool that Stella describes? Also, while costumer Sarah Figoten dresses Margie with colorful appeal, her choice for Stella, especially the inappropriate muumuu she wears to Frank’s retirement dinner, seems needlessly dowdy.

Ruskin Group Theatre, 3000 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., Sun., 2 p.m.; extended through Mar. 31. (310) 397-3244 or online at www.ruskingrouptheatre.com. Running time: approximately two hours with an intermission.