BWW Reviews: Stellar Cast Tells Same Old Story in Wilbury Group's THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY

Stories of religious coflict and controversy have been around as long as...well...religion. Today, we are indundated with stories about the way religion continues to change, shape, impact and affect us and our world. Religious fanaticism, especially, has come to the forefront in recent years and now dominates the news we read and hear. Religious themes are also presented in artistic and creative works, including movies, books, tv shows and plays, including This Beautiful City, the first show of the season at The Wilbury Group. And while the play's life started with a interesting concept, the final product is mostly a rehash of religious stories we have heard many times before, told in more compelling and relatable ways.

As mentioned, the play's problems start with the subject matter. Created by the theater company The Civilians, it is based on "hundreds of hours" of interviews with people in Colorado Springs, the "unofficial U.S. capital" of the Evangelical movement. Thing is, the interviews really don't offer us anything new or anything that we haven't heard before. They don't really present any new angles or ways of looking at the religious debates that rage in this country and around the world.

According to the playbill, every leading church as well as numerous individuals and civic organizations participated in those interviews. That's all well and good but in the context of This Beautiful City, it leads to a disjointed and disconnected play without any well-developed characters and without an engaging through-line or overall dramatic arc. As far as the "characters," they are all little more than caricatures and stereotypes. They're rarely given names, let alone anything that lets the audience get to know them, relate to them, sympathize with or care about them.

As for an attempt at that overall dramatic arc or through-line, there are number of things thrown into the blender, including a focus on homosexuality in the church and the conflict of church vs. state. Those come and go, but never really take us anywhere. More strange is that the central focus becomes the story of Ted Haggard.

Who is Ted Haggard, you ask? Good question. Haggard was an Evangelical pastor, founder and head of New Life Church, and leader of the National Association of Evangelicals. He was, the play tells us, a major player in national and international political and religious issues of the day. He was also caught up in a scandal involving drugs and a male prostitute, back in 2006, eight years ago. Haggard's story is no longer news and not something that many people are likely to remember or care about anymore. It pales in comparison to countless other scandals that have come and gone since then, not to mention the scandals that we hear about every day in the modern era of the internet and the twenty-four hour news cycle. It's an extremely weak story to put at the center of this play. It's not particularly timely or relatable and doesn't really offer any new questions, answers, messages or themes for today's audience.

Finally, the script brings all of this together in a package that includes music, along the lines of something you'd hear at a revival meeting. Problem is, the music is, to put it gently, awful. The songs are often choppy and lack a pleasing tune or melody. Not helping matters is the frequently terrible lyrics which likely wouldn't win many converts.

Luckily, director Josh Short has put together a sparkling ensemble of some of the area's best working actors. While it's truly an ensemble piece, it's impossible not to point to Clara Weishahn as the standout and the one who holds it all together. No telling whether or not Short made the conscious decision to give Weishahn the best characters, scenes and moments. It's just as likely that Weishahn is just so good that she could turn watching paint dry into an entertaining and fascinating character study. Here, she delivers the most nuanced and textured performances and creates the only characters who are truly human, believable and sympathetic.

Not far behind is Weishanh's former cast-mate in Detriot last season at Wilbury. Again in this production, Melissa Penick proves her talent and impressive versatility, which she has showcased in a number of productions. Wherever that versatility takes her, she always fills her characters with an enormous amount of life and charisma. She is always a joy to watch on stage.

Rounding out the female members of the ensemble are Siobhan Reddy-Best and Julia Bartoletti. It felt as though Reddy-Best was underused but that may have been because she was so charismatic every time she appeared on stage. She's a wonderful stage presence who commands the attention of the audience. It' s a shame that this play didn't give her enough good material to reward them for their attention. Also not really getting much to sink her teeth into is Bartoletti, who does at least have the best musical moment with the "Whatever Song." It would be nice to see her get to stretch and do more than just play the angst-filled teenage types.

Leading the male ensemble is the always reliable Patrick Mark Saunders. His performances in roles as a priest and house of prayer leader are among the best in the play. An extremely expressive and energized young actor, he's always doing something intriguing or entertaining, and always with a believable reason behind it. Mycah Hogan also gets some nice moments, including what is probably the best scene and monologue of the play, when he rails against church vs. state and religion in the context of the military. His other characters are far less interesting but at least he gets one great moment to shine.

The final two members of the ensemble fare the worst, through no fault of their own. The talented Jo-an Peralta gets very little to do, which is unfortunate. When he gets a big moment, an extended sermon in the middle of Act Two, it's an unfortunately tedious and tiresome exercise for the audience to sit through. Andrew Iacovelli gets more to do but it isn't particularly high quality material to work with. He's saddled with the worst musical numbers of the play and, to his credit, gives them his all. His other characters, including Ted Haggard's son, just aren't interesting roles for him to play, at least not from the audience's viewpoint.

It should be noted again that all of these actors put forth their best effort and make the best of out of the material. If you are a fan of any of them, it may be worth it to see the play and support their work and efforts. It may also be worth viewing if you are interested in Ted Haggard, the Evangelical movement and religion's continued power and impacts on our society. Otherwise, this beautiful city offers few reasons to visit.

This Beautiful City runs through October 12 at The Wilbury Group, located at 393 Broad Street in Providence. Call 401-400-7100 for tickets or visit their website at www.thewilburygroup.org. Showtimes are 7:30pm on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and 2:00 on Sunday. Tickets are $25 general admission, and $20 students/seniors.

Pictured: The cast of This Beautiful City. Photo by Nile Hawver.

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