The Golden Boy
In today's terminology, you could say that Joe Bonaparte has bipolar gifts. His hands are as adept at boxing as they are with a violin. His skills are so extreme, in Clifford Odets's drama, they're on a collision course. The play's three acts depict a 12-round bout: Mammon vs. the Muses. Bit by the "gold bug," Joe sides with the former. In a persistent sense, he resembles Faust. But instead of selling his soul to the devil, Joe sacrifices his artistic gift for about 18 months of material glitter. To underline the Faust connection, Odets originally subtitled the play "a modern allegory." New Village Arts's staging gets the style, and much of the sweep, of the 1937 drama. As Joe, Michael Zlotnik has fine moments but needs more conviction: he's acted upon, yet should be the agent of his own demise. Manny Fernandes -- slick hair, shiny forehead (and first-rate) -- rockets through his lines as Moody, Joe's harried manager. Eric Poppick's touching Mr. Bonaparte, Jeff Anthony Miller's Tokio (the understanding trainer), and Greg Wittman's humorous Siggie encircle Joe with patter and, in the end, confusion and hurt. As Joe's half-on, half-off girlfriend Lorna, Amanda Sitton has a pitch-perfect, been-there-done-that tone. Her shoulders swivel when she walks, and she never just sits in a chair: she has an armada of slouches, all elegant and tinged with a greener shade of jade. Director Joshua Everett Johnson plays Eddie, the slick gangster with Mephistophilean urges, and slithers around Kristianne Kurner and Tim Wallace's serviceable set like a viper.
Worth a try.
When
Ongoing until Sunday, July 13, 2008
Hours
| Sundays, 2pm |
| Thursdays, 8pm |
| Fridays, 8pm |
| Saturdays, 3pm & 8pm |