Seared
Reviewed by Philip Brandes
Ensemble Theatre Company at The New Vic
Through June 25
Amid the kitchen chaos of a struggling Brooklyn restaurant, Teresa Rebeck’s 2019 comedy, “Seared,” serves up a foodie-infused variant of the familiar clash between artistic integrity and commercial compromise.
Piquant notes of simmering tension open a handsome staging by Jonathan Fox for Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company, as perfectionist chef Harry (Andrew Elvis Miller) and his pragmatic business partner, Mike (Gary Patent) squabble over Harry’s impossibly demanding standards.
After more than two years perched one rent increase away from losing everything, the restaurateurs’ prospects have suddenly sweetened with a mention of their signature scallops in a New York magazine Best Bets column. Yet to Mike’s dismay, Harry now refuses to continue making the popular dish, citing the unavailability of sufficiently high-quality ingredients.
Gingerly navigating the dispute are the restaurant’s sole employee, Rodney (Ronald Auguste); and Emily (Angela Sauer), an enigmatic marketing consultant offering her seasoned services and ripe contacts for an as-yet unspecified just dessert. Emily’s presence widens the culinary divide between.
Philosophical dilemmas such as this frequently pepper the on-trend banter that’s become a signature of the prolific Rebeck (who created the Broadway musical-adjacent TV series, Smash). Here, however, a lot of the sizzle is lost as Mike and Harry spend over two-thirds of the show ping-ponging through the same argument over food quality vs. money. Some formulaic plot complications — a romantic encounter here, a Waiting-for-Guffman critic’s visit there —provide mere distractions without really raising the steaks.
Not helping momentum is the innately affable demeanor in Miller’s performance—it undermines Harry’s supposed enfant terrible cred and makes it hard to swallow his anti-capitalist rants. In contrast, Mike’s efforts to salvage the investment of his life’s savings are far more coherently clarified in Patent’s portrayal.
At long last, Sauer’s charismatically spicy Emily injects a soupçon of psychological insight into the anxieties underlying Harry’s arrogant bravado, and the hidden talents of Auguste’s rock-solid Rodney ultimately force the intransigent chef to down a helping of humble pie. But the growth here is wafer thin—narrative arc is not the piece-de-resistance of this piece.
Rather, the show’s freshest ingredient is its visceral celebration of food preparation artistry; Rebeck clearly knows her way around a restaurant kitchen. So for that matter does scenic designer Fred Kinney, whose meticulously detailed, fully functional set is both a feast for the eyes and a prerequisite for the actors to execute the intricately-scripted onstage cooking sequences.
The silent, six-minute Act Two opening in which Harry cooks a seared salmon dish from scratch presents a particularly appetizing opportunity for performance virtuosity. Unfortunately, these scenes are where the production proves most undercooked — Miller gets the job done, but without the precision chops of a trained chef.
Despite visible and audible evidence that live cooking is taking place, no accompanying aromas flood the theater. Those who attend in hopes of Michelin star authenticity will likely roux the day.
Ensemble Theatre Company at The New Vic; 33 W. Victoria Street, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara; Wed. & Thurs., 7:30 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; https://etcsb.org/production/seared/; Running Time: 2 hours and 20 minutes including intermission.
