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Rewrites Lift Up Lead Heavy Sky
Armed with a new script and a revamped cast, The Production Collective's remounting of Lead Heavy Sky is given a fresh life.
by
James Kass
September 24, 2003 |
Sitting in my chair at the Flatiron Playhouse, I couldn't help but get a sense of déjà vu. Months earlier, I'd been in the same place, staring at the same set, looking at some of the same actors' faces in the playbill.
But as the lights came up on The Production Collective's revamp of Lead Heavy Sky, that déjà vu quickly faded. Since the last time I saw the piece, playwrights Gregg Bellon and Patrick Meagher have tweaked and toned their script. They mercifully cut entire chunks of dialogue, consolidated the show into one solid act, eliminated several superfluous scene changes, and focused on the core device: witnessing how these characters cope with loss.
Simply put, this "less is more" approach works.
The play opens with Eric Morace as Pete, the high strung, recently dumped roommate, and co-playwright Gregg Bellon as Randy, the more laid-back, practical friend. Their interplay as friends is quite honest; alternating between antagonistic, supportive, bitchy and furious. They are suddenly fun to watch.
Gray Edwards portrays Eric, a gay twenty-something bartender who is looking for love... or at least a quickie in the stall of a restroom. Gray deserves credit for giving a toned-down performance; the role is one that could have easily been presented as a two-dimensional caricature. He pulled back the reins and his performance was compelling and funny without being a cartoon. Well played, indeed.
Though the copious drug use is not my cup of tea (or bong water for that matter), it is not as prevalent as in the last incarnation, where they snorted enough to kill a half-dozen Belushis. In its present form, the drugs have more of a purpose: to illustrate the often tragic, destructive ways the characters deal with their losses.
The Roommate scenes alternate with prior events that happened that night in the Chelsea apartment of Mike, tenderly portrayed by David Benson. Dying of the same disease that took his lover long ago, Mike struggles to live his last days not in a cold hospital, but instead in the dignity of his own apartment. David's gentle delivery is gruesomely accurate, and the playwrights gave him some smartly written dialogue.
Mike encounters Leo - the fourth roommate - skillfully played by Matt Hussong. Even though Mike and Leo's introduction is scripted like the opening dialogue to a porn movie (which says more about the preconceptions of the audience than anything else), it thankfully progresses into a heartfelt, intelligent exploration of love, friendship, life and loss. Matt's delivery of Leo is carefully layered; his character slowly metamorphoses before us from a curt, short-tempered, angry young man to someone willing to confront his loss and grow from it.
Also back again is Ian Tomaschik, who provides comic relief as Ron, the friendly neighborhood drug dealer. His huge stage presence and enthusiasm are as eye opening as the smack his character peddles. He plays Ron with the frenetic energy of Cosmo Kramer and the naughty glee of Michael Keaton's Beetlejuice. In a rewrite where much has been cut, Ian's performance made me wish the playwrights would have written even more for him.
Once again, Glenn Cunningham's rotating set was not only functional for the changes between scenes, but also perfectly decorated. The attention to detail, particularly in Mike's Chelsea apartment, was striking.
Gregg Bellon and Patrick Meagher had the sense to do what too many playwrights fail to do. They looked at what worked, made the tough choices and presented a vastly improved work. The theme of loss, and how men deal with that loss, is stronger and more thoughtfully explored. A finely tuned, tight script, combined with a talented cast makes Lead Heavy Sky rise to the top.
Lead Heavy Sky by Gregg Bellon and Patrick Meagher. Produced by The Production Collective. Directed by Gregg Bellon and Patrick Meagher. Starring (in alphabetical order): Gregg Bellon, David Benson, Gray Edwards, Matt Hussong, Eric Morace and Ian Tomaschik. Presented September 3 - September 13, 2003 at the NativeAliens' Flatiron Playhouse, West 23rd Street, New York. |
James Kass is the Features Editor and Database Administrator of My8by10.com. |
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