BWW Reviews: According to Tom Stoppard, THE REAL THING in Life is Love

Riley Productions presents Tom Stoppard's two-time Tony Award winning comedy THE REAL THING directed by Linda Alznauer from February 1 - March 9, 2014 at Two Roads Theatre. 4348 Tujunga Ave, Studio City 91604. In it, Tom Stoppard combines his characteristically brilliant wordplay and wit with flashes of insight that illuminate the nature--and the mystery--of love, creating a multi-toned play that challenges the mind while searching out the innermost secrets of the heart.

The play examines the nature of honesty, and its use of a play within a play is one of many levels on which the author teases the audience with the difference between semblance and reality, both in love and on the stage. Couples change partners easily and partners confront each other when the evidence points to acts of indiscretion. And it seems the women are the worst offenders.

This play is considered to be Stoppard's best. The play premiered in 1982 in London and went on to win the 1984 Tony Award for Best Play and most recently revived on Broadway in 2000 winning the 2000 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. There are obvious parallels between Stoppard and his main characters Henry and Annie: both are middle-aged playwrights known for their exact use of language; both express doubts about Marxism and the politics of the left, both undertake work outside the theatre to keep up their comfortable lifestyles and pay alimony to their wives, and both men take up with another man's wife and find happiness, while retaining a strong relationship with their children. In fact, Stoppard was married when he started his relationship with Felicity Kendal, the actress who played Annie in the original staging. Does art imitate life or life imitate art?

Director Linda Alznauer and her set/costume designer Diana Martin worked diligently to overcome the challenges of presenting the play in the small Two Roads block box theater. There are multiple set changes as the action slips back and forth between London apartments and on a train. There are two stage hands moving the set pieces while the actors change costumes, which match the scenery in a color scheme of burgundy, grey, black, and blue - a very nice design touch. However, I do think the set changes take much too long and could perhaps be done in a more simple way, allowing the pace to move evenly throughout the play.

Featured in the cast are Jared Boghosian (Billy), Fox Carney (Max), Brandon Irons (Brodie), Cindy Marinangel (Annie), Michael Robb (Henry), Susan Silvestri (Charlotte), and Anna Laura Singleton (Debbie). This is a very wordy play and the actors sometimes seem as if they are speaking "Shakespeak" trying to just say the words without really understanding what they are saying, causing much of the first scene comedy to be lost. British wit is fast-moving, but rushing through the lines did not allow the audience enough time to be able to hear all the humor and react to it.

Cindy Marinangel is a stunning and totally classy Annie, a joy to watch in costumes that highlight her magnificent figure, while her ability to totally embrace the meaning of her lines and delivers them so the audience stays on her side, even when she turns out to be an adulterer. Michael Robb plays playwright Henry as a sort of David Bowie type Brit, walking a fine line between male and female line delivery. He has the majority of lines and delivers them well, although at times the text delves so deep into Stoppard's philosophy, it becomes difficult to follow.

Jared Boghosian's Billy, the young actor on the road to Glasgow with Annie, will dazzle you with his testosterone-filled sex appeal, much like the young Brad Pitt in "Thelma and Louise." He is a bad boy who will lead Annie astray, if she allows herself to be seduced by a man young enough to be her son.

Susan Silvestri burns brightly as Charlotte, the former wife of Henry who is now married to Max who was formerly married to Annie who is now married to Henry. (Did you follow that?) Silvestri epitomizes a high class woman with low down morals, especially during the scene with her daughter Debbie (Anna Laura Singleton), a teenager getting ready to go on the road with a steam organist in a travelling circus. "Too young to go with him; too young to go alone," says Charlotte matter-of-factly as she heads out the door. What a mother.

There is a 70's pop sound track by Steve Shaw, which supports Henry's love of the genre. I had to chuckle with the final selection, "Love Was Out To Get Me," the perfect song to end a show about that very subject - how carnal knowledge is really the only way to know someone.

Riley Productions presents THE REAL THING by Tom Stoppard
DIRECTED/PRODUCED BY: Linda Alznauer
February 1 - March 9, 2014 on Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm; Sunday evenings at 7pm. Box Office opens one hour prior to curtain. TICKETS: $15
BUY TICKETS/INFO: www.plays411.com/therealthing or (323) 822-7898
WHERE: Two Roads Theatre. 4348 Tujunga Avenue, Studio City 91604
PARKING: Ample parking on Tujunga/Moorpark/Some side-streets
Please allow 10 minutes to park. Please read all parking signage.
RUNNING TIME: 2 ½ hrs. There will be one intermission.

Photos by Richard M. Johnson

Michael Robb, Cindy Marinangel

Susan Silvestri, Anna Laura Singleton, Michael Robb

Michael Robb, Cindy Marinangel, Brandon Irons

Fox Carney, Cindy Marinangel, Susan Silvestri, Michael Robb

Jared Boghosian and Cindy Marinangel

Susan Silvestri, Fox Carney