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Hollywood Party
Reviewed by Neal Weaver
Hudson Mainstage
Through October 19
Playwright-director-costume designer Octavio Carlin bills himself as “dress designer to the stars,” and his claims to be a fashion designer have a certain credibility. The gowns he has designed for the ladies of his ensemble are handsomely outre (and a program insert informs us that they can all be purchased at the Octavio Carlin Store on Kings Road). But he is not yet much of a playwright or director.
His script is a chaotic compendium of the clichés of the silent era, with a farcical plot that involves jewel thieves, Greta Garbo declaiming, “I vant to be alone,” a murder plot, a pie-fight, feuding, rival divas, and enough intrigues and dangers for several Jacobean tragedies. And standard elements of farce are indiscriminately thrown in: characters running around in their undies, or in drag, getting bopped on the head and locked in closets. But credible motivations are in short supply, and logic is even more so.
The time is the silent movie era, and the titular party is thrown by director Fred Niblo (Les Williams) to celebrate the premiere of his latest production, The Mysterious Lady, starring Miss Garbo, and all the great names of Hollywood are on the invitation list — and all are played, rather confusingly, by the same three actors, Max Hambleton as Ramon Navarro, William Haynes, and John Gilbert; understudy Kathleen “Kat” Brower as Greta Garbo, Johanna Vanderbilt, Joan Crawford, Carmel Myers, Gilda Grey, photographer Ruth Harriet Louise, and Symona Boniface (Who?); and Christina Lemon as jewel thief Tania Feodorova, Aileen Pringle, and Niblo’s wife Enid Bennett. Neither the writer nor the actors make any serious effort to characterize the various stars, so things get confusing. (We can always recognize Navarro because he’s the only one with a mustache.)
The business of the plot rests largely on the shoulders of two friends and aspiring actors, Alberto Samaniego (NiNo Alicea), a cross-dressing cousin of Navarro, and Roderigo de Altamirano (Kelly Brighton), a star-struck stalker of celebrities. They overhear a phone conversation about a plot to murder someone, and feel they must mobilize to prevent the mayhem. They also, for no particular reason, keep moving a portrait of Mrs. Niblo, which enters and exits at irregular intervals. The jewel thieves and potential poisoners, Tania Feodorova and Captain Karl Von Raden (Matthew Saylor) plot in corners, a manic butler (Terrence Gene Taylor) seemingly spies on everybody, and actress Aileen Pringle vows revenge against the supposed murderers of her dog. (As comedienne Anna Russell once said, while describing Wagner’s Ring Cycle, “Mind you, I’m not making this up.”)
The action may be incoherent, but it is at least fitfully amusing for a while. But this farrago goes on for an hour and 45 minutes with no intermission, and amusement gives way to tedium and annoyance.
Most of the roles are pretty thankless, but understudy Kat Brower is a vivid presence in all her various roles, particularly as Johanna, a faux Vanderbilt who explains that “I was married to one of them for about 8 hours, and I kept the name.”
Curiously, the program lists three press representatives—two for Theatrical PR and one for Fashion PR. This seems to reflect this vanity production’s priorities.
Teatro de la O at The Hudson Mainstage, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m.; through Oct. 19. (323) 960-4418, https://www.plays411.com/hollywoodparty
