In Atlanta playwright Pearl Cleage’s latest Alliance Theatre world premiere, a grand theatrical diva returns home to Peachtree Street after living for decades in Europe. To her great discomfort and frustration, her place in the world has changed. Will she graciously pass the torch, or flame out like a sputtering supernova?
As it turns out, Anna Campbell, the vain, self-absorbed epicenter of Cleage’s “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous,” will display a little bit of both types of behavior before her crisis is resolved.
Anna’s claim to fame, and the pretext for her triumphant return to America, is her signature piece, “Naked Wilson,” in which she delivers powerful monologues from the August Wilson canon (wait for it) — in the nude. But Anna is not interested in portraying stereotypes of long-suffering women like Rose Maxson from “Fences.” No, thank you. She dares to play Rose’s husband, the flawed and imperfect Troy Maxson.
Anna’s point is a precise, feminist observation, yet one that may cause many Wilson fans to squirm: Wilson may have been a protean and prolific playwright with an enormous heart, but he wrote from the point of view of a male, and some, like Anna, would argue that his most eloquent characters were men.
I think it’s important to explain this, because Cleage, for all her skills, doesn’t quite paint a clear picture of why such a thing as a “Nude Wilson” would exist in the first place, until well into the play. There are hints that the piece was intended as a protest, but even the most seasoned of theatergoers may spend a few minutes scratching their heads over the setup.
What Cleage does, to mixed results, is create a portrait of two old friends, the regal and entitled Anna (Terry Burrell) and her wiser, more real bookend, Betty (Marva Hicks). I've always felt that the author of "Flyin' West" and "Blues for an Alabama Sky" found her style, in part, by watching Hollywood classics. While the seductive Angel from "Blues" recalls the likes of Tennessee Williams' Blanche DuBois and Lillian Hellman's Regina Giddens, you may see a smidgen of Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin's Grace and Frankie in Anna and Betty.
It’s not for nothing that the play, directed by Susan V. Booth, opens with Anna surveying their swanky Midtown hotel suite and declaring, “What a dump!” In fact, Collette Pollard has created a sumptuous modern retreat, nicely lit by Michelle Habeck, and Kara Harmon’s costumes speak to the stations of the four women who will float in and out of these rooms.
When the 65-year-old Anna finds that she won’t be starring in “Naked Wilson” at the theater festival celebrating her career, the shoe drops. Thus it is left to festival producer Kate (Je Nie Fleming) to absorb the wrath of Anna, to tell her that she’s being replaced by a young, novice performer named Precious “Pete” Wilson (Ericka Ratcliff). Kate just can’t use the word “replacement” or make references to age.
The other thing that Anna can’t know but will inevitably discern is that Pete’s professional experience thus far (spoiler alert) has been limited to strip clubs and minor porn flicks.
While Ratcliff brings a measure of the raw energy of a street-wise woman to the part, Fleming’s nervous Kate goes a little overboard on the eye-rolling and mouth-chewing. Burrell is, as always, a joy to watch, but for me, the real winner here is Hicks, who comes across as a character based on real life rather than caricature.
Mechanically, “Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous” can be a little clunky.
Because we never leave the hotel room, everything must be telegraphed back to us from the outside world. Tales of Anna’s up-and-down past, from leading lady to hot mess, are related in past tense, as are the rather slim offstage plot twists.
One running joke is the ceaseless Atlanta rain, and every clap of thunder becomes an excuse to invoke the unhappy ghost of Wilson. The joke becomes tired and overworked. The play is littered with many improbable events, too, including a viral video that was taped from the roof of the Margaret Mitchell House; a sudden gift of cash that saves the day for the financially compromised Anna and Betty; and references to offstage altercations and legal maneuvers that don’t quite add up, or add anything much to the drama. Apparently, changes were made to the storyline during the writing process, and you can feel the bumps.
All that said, Cleage delivers crowd-pleasing entertainment that is sure to delight her faithful following. Where Wilson and other male playwrights failed to write interesting characters for women, she steps in, for better or worse. Alas, this feather-light comedy is not her strongest.
THEATER REVIEW
“Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous”
7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays. 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays. 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays. 7:30 p.m. Sundays. (No show at 7:30 p.m. on April 14). Through April 14. Tickets start at $20-$85. Alliance Theatre, 1280 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta. 404-733-5000, alliancetheatre.org.
Bottom line: Pearl Cleage lite
