'THE GLASS MENAGERIE' AS WOULD-BE TV COMEDY.Byline: Katherine Karlin Correspondent OH, THOSE wacky Wingfields! You remember the St. Louis family that put the fun in dysfunctional. Dad left a long time ago; he was a telephone worker in love with long distance. Mother Amanda does the best she can but can't help reminiscing about the ``gentlemen callers'' of her youth. Sister Laura can't get through business school - typing gives her indigestion indigestion or dyspepsia, discomfort during or after eating caused by some interference with the normal digestive process. Symptoms include nausea, heartburn, abdominal pain, gas distress, and a feeling of abdominal distention. ! And brother Tom, warehouse worker by day, poet by night, tries to hold the family together. Watch as Tom brings a co-worker home to meet Laura and the zaniness begins! The above could be a blurb blurb n. A brief publicity notice, as on a book jacket. [Coined by Gelett Burgess (1866-1951), American humorist.] blurb v. for director Jessica Kubzansky's misguided production of Tennessee Williams' classic ``The Glass Menagerie.'' Kubzansky, trusting neither the gorgeous script nor the audience, leaves beats after each line to tease out a chuckle. Even Michelle Ney's set design, using chain-link fences for the walls of the Wingfields' cramped apartment (it's a prison, get it?) condescends. If there's any doubt where this production is going, check out the antebellum hoop skirt hoop skirt n. A long full skirt belled out with a series of connected circular supports. Amanda (Lisa Pelikan) wears in the second act. Do the math: To have this relic in her closet, Depression-era Amanda would have to be about 100, not 50-ish. But it's clear the skirt is meant to explore the hilarious possibilities as Amanda negotiates walking across the stage or sitting on the sofa. Or consider the comically humongous portrait of the absent father - a large-format print that, in the 1930s, might be hanging on a museum wall, not in a working-class household. How to evaluate the performances under such direction? A braying, insensitive Pelikan reduces Amanda to a single screeching note. Tom (Louis Lotorto) consumes himself with bits of business like wrestling with his jacket and fumbling for cigarettes. Mandy Freund resists the temptation to turn Laura into a glamour-puss and exudes a sweet, odd quality. But her line readings are uneven. Johnathan McClain Johnathan McClain is an American stage and television actor who appeared on the 2005 television series The Bad Girl's Guide starring Jenny McCarthy. In 2004 he appeared in a television pilot for ABC starring Jessica Simpson which was originally picked up by the network but has presence as the gentleman caller Gentleman caller may refer to:
n. pl. brag·ga·do·ci·os 1. A braggart. 2. a. Empty or pretentious bragging. b. A swaggering, cocky manner. rather than regret in his moments with Laura. And so the most moving scene written in the English language English language, member of the West Germanic group of the Germanic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages (see Germanic languages). Spoken by about 470 million people throughout the world, English is the official language of about 45 nations. becomes a sitcom set piece. THE GLASS MENAGERIE - One star Where: Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third St., Burbank. When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays; through March 12. Tickets: $30 to $40. (818) 558-7000, Ext. 15. In a nutshell: Criminal. |
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