Review - After The Revolution: The Life Of The Party

Sure, in America the guilty have just as much a right to a fair trial as the innocent. But when someone you believe is guilty doesn't get one, is that a wrong you can be all that enthused about righting? That's one of the discussion points that might be mulled over by leftist radicals downing shots of vodka after taking in Amy Herzog's After The Revolution. Unfortunately, this tantalizing moral dilemma is regulated to a throwaway point in a play that teases us with its political content while contenting itself with being a rather formulaic family drama. It's a good one, for sure; well-written (despite an unsatisfying ending) with absorbing conflicts and director Carolyn Cantor's excellent cast is always engaging, but every so often the play reminds us of an interesting direction the author decided not to take.

Set in 1999, the story concerns young law school graduate Emma Joseph (Katharine Powell), who is carrying on the family's left-wing tradition by heading a foundation devoted to seeking justice for convicts who may not have received fair trials. Her current high-profile case is Mumia Abu-Jamal, who, in real life, is currently incarcerated on Death Row for the 1981 murder of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner.

Emma's foundation is named for her blacklisted grandfather, Joe Joseph, who she regards as a hero who valiantly refused to name names for Senator McCarthy. But when it's discovered that a soon-to-be-released book contains evidence that Joe lied under oath and in fact supplied American military secrets to our Soviet allies (That his actions may have had some connection with the execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg is another morsel introduced but left unexplored.) and that she seems to be the only one in the family who was unaware of this secret, Emma panics at the thought of losing face with her funders and is furious with her father for allowing her to build her foundation based on lies.

Peter Friedman does a terrific job as Emma's Marxist father, Ben; torn by his pride in his daughter's efforts to continue the family tradition of activism and by the fear that she wouldn't understand his father's actions out of the context of what the country was like in the first half of the 20th Century. And while Powell's portrayal of Emma's disillusion growing into and understanding for the need to make compromises and accept imperfections is well done, the play evolves into a series of scenes between Emma and more interesting supporting characters.

There's Elliot Villar as her shock-absorbing boyfriend, the latest in a line of Latinos that Emma seems to exclusively date, Mare Winningham as her soft-spoken stepmother who had to learn about fitting in with the family the hard way, Mark Blum lightening up the proceedings as her wry uncle and Meredith Holzman as her formerly trouble-making sister who has gotten her life in order and is enjoying her sudden status as the good daughter.

Two of the New York stage's seasoned favorites are wonderfully memorable in their brief appearances. David Margulies twinkles with charm as Emma's major funder, whose support, he insists, is in no way influenced by his attraction to her grandmother, Vera. As played by Lois Smith, Vera is a stern and defensive witness to the American Communist movement that thrived in Greenwich Village.

Set designer Clint Ramos and lighting designer Ben Stanton devise a clever way of depicting the play's numerous interior locations by providing a unit set, backed by a wall-full of framed items, books and assorted mementos, that looks like a spacious living room when fully lit, but reflects different personalities when only select portions are highlighted.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Lois Smith and Katharine Powell; Bottom: Mark Blum and Peter Friedman.

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While the campy antics of Devil Boys From Beyond may suggest an unlikely blend of screwball classics like His Girl Friday with infamous sci-fi fare such as Plan 9 From Outer Space, the movie title that kept popping into my mind was Clash of The Titans. Not because of the mythical physiques of beefy boys Jeff Riberdy and Jacques Mitchell, but because this honey of a laff-riot matches esteemed associates from the schools of Off-Broadway's two most significant drag theatre artists.

Having transferred to New World Stages from its previous gig at the 2009 Fringe Festival, Devil Boys is co-authored (with Buddy Thomas) and directed by Kenneth Elliot, most known as co-founder of Theatre-in-Limbo, for which he mounted the original productions of Charles Busch favorites like Red Scare on Sunset and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. His leading player this time around is Paul Pecorino, who crackles with Gotham smart-girl authority as Mamie Van Buren, the Pulitzer-winning journalist for the New York Bugle, who, in 1957, teams up with her alcoholic ex-husband, photographer Gregory Graham (Robert Berliner), to nail a story concerning a series of mysterious disappearances in the town of Lizard Lick, Florida, a community plagued by generations of inbreeding.

Though under the circumstances it's only natural to think of Pecorino as playing "the Charles Busch role," any resemblance to the master in his pin-point farcical recalling of great dames like Rosalind Russell and Lauren Bacall at their chic-y extremes just means he's doing his job very well.

The Bugle's editor-in-chief, played with newsprint-in-the-veins gruffness by Peter Cormican, is counting on a big scoop to save the paper from financial ruin ("By the end of 1957 there may only be eight dailies left in New York City.") but gossip columnist Lucinda "Queen of the Blacklist" Marsh (Chris Dell'Armo, with a wicked Eve Arden-ish flair) is after headlines of her own, especially after coming across a green alien fetus.

But before their escapades can commence, the evening begins with a monologue from that major player for Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Everett Quinton. As Lizard Lick housewife Florence Wexler, who, in a state of panic, tells of her encounter with visitors from outer space, Quinton's maddening insistence that, "I am not insane," elongating syllables to bring out overdramatic color, gloriously recalls the Ridiculous style of celebrating the grotesque. He's joined by Theatre-in-Limbo favorite Andy Halliday, as Dottie Primrose, the lusty lady who runs the only motel in town. Their middle-aged out-of-shape husbands have somehow been replaced by young aliens (Riberdy and Mitchell) whose home planet apparently includes free gym membership, as well as a common-sense message for Earthlings concerning the right for all to marry who they love.

While Devil Boys From Beyond is a small-scale production by Off-Broadway standards, B.T. Whitehill's comic strip scenic design, Gail Baldoni's smart and silly costumes, Gerard Kelly's wig work, and the over-the-top wonders of Vivien Leone's lights and Drew Fornarola's B-movie score add significantly to a wonderfully funny time.

Photos by Carol Rosegg: Top: Robert Berliner, Chris Dell'Armo, and Paul Pecorino; Bottom: Jeff Riberdy and Everett Quinton.

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"Don't live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable."

-- Wendy Wasserstein

The grosses are out for the week ending 11/14/2010 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: LOMBARDI (20.2%), LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (13.1%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (10.2%), PROMISES, PROMISES (10.2%), MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION (10.2%), MEMPHIS (10.2%), IN THE HEIGHTS (9.9%), BRIEF ENCOUNTER (9.8%), WEST SIDE STORY (9.0%), THE PITMEN PAINTERS (6.3%), MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (5.8%), NEXT TO NORMAL (5.6%), A FREE MAN OF COLOR (5.5%), LA BETE (5.2%), AMERICAN IDIOT (5.1%), THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (5.0%), CHICAGO (4.3%), A LIFE IN THE THEATRE (4.2%), TIME STANDS STILL (4.2%), THE Pee-Wee Herman SHOW (3.9%), THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (3.7%), BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON (3.0%), MAMMA MIA! (3.0%), A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (2.9%), FELA! (2.8%), ELLING (2.5%), THE LION KING (2.2%), MARY POPPINS (2.2%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (1.3%), DRIVING MISS DAISY (1.0%), JERSEY BOYS (0.9%),

Down for the week was: Colin Quinn: LONG STORY SHORT (-14.7%), WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (-6.2%), ROCK OF AGES (-0.8%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-0.8%), WICKED (-0.4%), RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES ON BROADWAY (-0.3%),

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