BWW Reviews: OTHER DESERT CITIES Explodes Onto Florida Rep Stage

Florida Repertory Theatre scored a coup, grabbing the rights to red-hot Jon Robin Baitz play "Other Desert Cities" for their 2012-13 season. In some ways a thinly veiled take on Ron and Nancy Reagan, the show features a daughter confronting conservative parents over long-buried family secrets.

I attended a preview of "Other Desert Cities" Thursday night; Friday's opening night was already committed to "The Whipping Man" at Gulfshore Playhouse. I knew a few minutes in that I'd caught the cast on an extremely flat night; I returned for Saturday's matinee.

Cacioppo draws from his strong ensemble to fill four roles in the Wyeth clan. Rachell Burttram plays Sag Harbor exile Brooke, home for the first time in six years after a breakdown and begging for blessings on her new book. Carrie Lund takes on icy matriarch Polly. Sara Morsey returns as pill-popping sister Silda, while Bill McNulty plays Reagan stand-in Lyman Wyeth. (Read a preview of "Other Desert Cities.")

Eric Mendenhall creates fizzy, sparkling riddle of a character that defies logic as the seemingly happy-go-lucky, forgotten youngest brother. Trip carries the show's "reality over lies" message; each of the other characters hides behind some fiction, while Trip is honest about his debauchery.

Mendenhall finds exactly the wry line between bitter and bruising. Trip delivers exactly the emotional punches he should as the actor berates his on-stage family over their inability to stop squabbling even on Christmas Eve. Think of him as the the warbling "can't we all just get along" bluebird piping in the corner.

Rachel Burttram marches Brooke forward with righteous anger and so much determination. She brings a manic, hand-waving, franticness to her Brooke; you can visualize exactly the play's line about "dancing as fast as she can" description. Morsey brings her usual subtle, pill-popping, crazy-person touch to accidental harridan Silda. McNulty feels as if was asked to underplay Lyman.

Carrie Lund might be the best and the worst thing about "Other Desert Cities." Polly Wyeth, the character a subtle stand-in for Nancy Reagan, breathes "compassionate conservatism," and Lund allows audiences to see the impossible contradictions of that phrase. You see the hard edges that come from a lifetime of knife-edged honor, fierce commitment and iron-willed ideas. You see the heart-breaking crash when reality intersects with politics. You see parents sacrificing for children.

When Lund is at the top of her game, as she often was Saturday afternoon, the show is very good. Even the smallest touches, trademarks of the Cacioppo school of directing, like sneaking a cigarette timed to the word "sneak" in the script, or subtle glances and smart choices add layers to her old guard Republican ice queen.

Unfortunately, Lund's monumental workload (this is her third role in 12 weeks) catches up with her. Repeated and noticeable flubs pepper her performance and slows momentum. There are moments of startling clarity but every time Lund fights for lines, the show feels like a watch in desperate need of tuning.

A stirring denouement, begun Polly whispering "Sit down. Please" serves up some of the best, most subtle and dramatic acting Florida Rep has produced this year. Cacioppo stages the scene with careful restrain, pushing actors to use just their voice and face to convey emotion. The actors hold, creating a bubble of expectation until Burttram explodes, releasing the tension by throwing the pages of her book into the air, symbolically raining shame down on the family.

A momentary blackout before the final brief scene saw crass audience members crawl over half a row in a shameful stampede for the exits.

This is the kind of smArt Theatre that will leave audiences talking and thinking for days. Consider the questions of what parents might owe children, or what loyalty children owe their parents in return. Head out, toward "Other Desert Cities." Find something wonderful.

Chris Silk is the arts writer and theater critic for the Naples Daily News. To read the longer version of this review, go to: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2013/mar/18/review-florida-rep-other-desert-cities-tickets/

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