Some Stars Shine Bright; Others Shed No Light!

A play celebrating the Hollywood Golden Era is taking place a little closer to the Great White Way via the International Theatre Festival. Got all that? To spell it out a little clearer - Michael Boothroyd has adapted the works of poet Edward Field - and is now directing a collection of that work in a play entitled "Stars In My Eyes." Field has lived one adventure after the next, and so have the people he writes about. Depicted here are the likes of Frankenstein, Joan Crawford, Malrene Dietrich, Greta Garbo , and Mae West, among others. While these real life and fictional beings are larger than life characters on page and possibly make for interesting poetry; as a theatrical extravaganza full of mixed monologues and mind-numbing characterizations – the piece fails miserably.

Field, a born and bread New Yorker, whose writing about Hollywood Stars of days gone by, knows exactly how to craft a lyrical poem. Not all poetry is necessarily as stimulating as it is pretty. An adaptation of one art form to another should raise the original materials excellence to a contemporary relevance. Unfortunately, Boothroyd fails to capitalize on the strengths of Field's work and brings his lyrical lines that read well on page to a grinding halt on stage.

The actors are not at fault, all give the best performance they can under Boothroyd's lazy directing. The most annoying of all characters, the director who announces each vignette with his director's scene board, is played by the most dazzling of the six very capable actors, James Gash. Jessica Jennings, Ryan G. Metzger, Charlotte Miller, Paige Rien, Benjamin Solomon, and Gash all do what they can under Boothroyd's limited leadership. Several scenes are entirely too brief to become emotionally involved, while others are so long the actors themselves seem to get bored with the material.

Field's material should be performed at poetry readings across the world and he could gain legions of fans. In the form of this theatre festival event however, those possible fans will not think twice about this forgettable hour and fifteen minutes inside the Workshop Theatre, but just move on to the next (and probably better) material. The evening is ultimately far more lackluster than stirring; thanks to the short order of imagination by the staging and adaptation of the production; because of that, major kudos to the high spirits of this talented cast.

STARS IN MY EYES Workshop Theatre, 312 W. 36th St. 4th Floor, Through Aug. 5.