BWW Reviews: Lakewood Theatre Company's A FEW GOOD MEN 'Crackles With Intensity'

During its 1995-96 season, Nashville's Circle Players presented a memorable (and First Night Award-winning) production of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men, the production that marked the playwright's 1989 Broadway debut and made him famous even before he became a household name thanks to TV's The West Wing. That Circle production was notable for its casting and for one particularly stunning piece of stage business: Director Doug Whatley had an actor patrolling atop an upstage fence to represent the men who perform that task for real every day and every night at NAB Guantanamo Bay. It was an effective piece of staging, which featured the fine work of an unspeaKing Ross Hayduk, and that image has remained seared in my memory ever since.

So it was with some trepidation - and more than a little wariness - that I approached a new production of A Few Good Men, now onstage through October 15, at Lakewood Theatre Company in Old Hickory. While the physical realities of Lakewood's venue preclude any such staging innovations as employed by Whatley, what you are treated to instead is a sharply focused and superbly acted production of Sorkin's seminal dramatic work. As one of the area's most successful community theater companies, Lakewood has consistently performed to capacity crowds, drawing actors from throughout the region.

While it's probably been at least 15 years since I last reviewed a show at Lakewood, I can imagine no better opportunity to return to the venue than to see director Vickie Bailey's capable cast bring Sorkin's play to life with vigor and commitment. Featuring the witty and incisive dialogue that Sorkin is known for, A Few Good Men presents an intriguing plot peopled by interesting characters and poses questions about loyalty and devotion to one's ideals, while casting a critical eye toward American military traditions.

Bailey stages the play fluidly with each scene dovetailing neatly into the next, utilizing the intimate confines of the theater to play up the tensions created by the complex plot and the actors who bring it to life. While probably best known for a 1992 film version that featured a bellowing Jack Nicholson exhorting  that we don't want the truth, while chewing up every bit of scenery erected (with Tom Cruise and Demi Moore along for the ride), Sorkin's original play is, to my way of thinking at least, far more compelling and engaging, giving audiences much more food for thought and allowing the actors to do what they do best: create a character to bring a stagebound script to life.

Bailey's cast, while uneven in the best possible way that community theater casts tend to be, deliver the goods with A Few Good Men, assuredly taking up the challenge and investing it with everything they've got. The result is a strong production that fairly resonates with intensity and crackles with energy.

Performed upon an imaginatively designed set from Margee Forman which provides the perfect backdrop for the play's action - taking audiences from the Pentagon to NAB Guantanamo Bay and back again - and featuring the fine sound and lighting design by Robert Pace (my only quibble here is that a gunshot in Act Two sounds too muffled to be truly effective and jarring), the production's physical trappings are further evidence of the crew's devotion to and understanding of Sorkin's play. Military consultant David Garcia, who does double-duty as Lance Corporal Harold W. Dawson (one of the two Marines charged with the murder of another), deserves credit for ensuring the attention to detail that so remarkably exemplifies the very best of this production's attributes.

Dawson and Pfc Louden Downey (Kevin Oziminski) are on trial for the murder of Pfc William T. Santiago (Bryan Arroyo) which occurred during a "Code Red," a hazing incident that is officially frowned upon but which is Marine Corps tradition. In fact, Sorkin's play focuses on the Corps' code of conduct that goes "Unit, Corps, God, Country" which effectively voices the chain of command in all things Corps-related. Thanks to the intercession of an annoying young Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway (Natalie Ruffino), the trial of Dawson and Downey escalates from a mere plea agreement to an investigation into the inner workings and interrelationships of the Marines at Guantanamo Bay, led by the reluctant Lt.j.g. Daniel A. Kaffee (Treg Miles), the son of a famous civil rights attorney. The efforts of Kaffee and Galloway pit them against Lt. Col. Nathan Jessep (Patrick Goedicke), a rising star in the Marines who has his eye on a seat on the National Security Council.

Sorkin's script is well-paced and it is filled with a lot of information that could be difficult for audiences to follow if the play's heavier subject matter were not leavened by the lighter comic touches the playwright sprinkles liberally throughout the script, making it far more palatable. Bailey has cast a group of talented actors to bring the well-crafted characters to life with ease.

Goedicke intelligently underplays Jessep with an easy disdain for the modern military as it evolves - allowing women and racial minorities greater authority - and underscoring his character's brashness with a barely disguised disgust for his underlings. Conversely, Miles uses an equally easy-going touch to bring Kaffee to life, which makes his scenes with Ruffino's Galloway more realistic, making their competitive give-and-take more believable. Ruffino is particularly effective as Galloway, while Asa Ambrister provides much of the comic relief as their associate Lt.j.g. Sam Weinberg (Jessep's obvious distrust of the Jewish Weinberg is expressed in a particularly potent, yet seemingly throwaway, aside when he refers to him as "Weinstein."), lending credence to his angry outburst in the play's second act.

Among the supporting cast, Garcia and Oziminski given studied, quietly effective performances as Dawson and Downey, with Garcia's military bearing making his performance credible and, somehow, more emotional. Oziminski has the wide-eyed look of innocence that makes his young Marine a more endearingly sympathetic character. Matt Smith, Michael Welch and Jeff McCann give strong performances as other Marines, while Pamm Howard plays the presiding officer at the court martial with confidence and authority. David Ditmore, Colin Timberlake, Blair Thompson and Tammy Sutherland complete the cast with their self-assured portrayals.

A Few Good Men. By Aaron Sorkin. Directed by Vickie Bailey. Presented by Lakewood Theatre Company, Old Hickory. Through October 15. For details, visit the company website at www.lakewoodtheatre.com. 

 

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