by D. Jette~

Director Stan Mazin has adapted the The City, a 1909 melodrama by Clyde Fitch, for the Group Rep now playing at the Lonny Chapman Theatre in North Hollywood.  At the time, The City was scandalous, it used foul language and acknowledged adultery, moral relativism and the corrupt underbelly of the financial industry and political caste in lower Manhattan.  Seeing the obvious parallels with today’s headlines, Mazin has taken liberties with Fitch’s text and done his best to bring this story into the present despite some structural incongruities.

The City is the story of George Rand, Jr. the son of a well-respected by secretly scurrilous small town banker.  His father’s corruption follows him in the form of an illegitimate half-brother by the name of Hannock whom Rand promises to keep close despite Hannock’s obvious villainy and penchant for blackmail.  Eventually the greed and scandal of the city are too much for Rand and his senatorial campaign is cut short by a series of embarrassing truths which come to light, and as the family collapses around the trappings of wealth and power, a tragedy unfolds that consumes them all.

Mazin makes alterations to the script in an attempt to purge anachronism while adding a dose of the modern.  Added references to Lady Gaga and Desperate Housewives are eye-rollers and do little to change the awkwardness of the play’s first act where the son must convince his father to allow him to move into the big city to gain advancement. It’s hard to imagine a contemporary father (and a successful banker, no less) denying his son a chance to excel in finance in the age of Skype and frequent flyer miles.  The second act is more compelling and consequential, though the script does not leave much time for either of the play’s two deaths to have any effect on the characters.  Even the willful self-destruction brought on by an accidental murder leads to long introspection and rationalization, instead of genuine passion or guilt.  The third act, by no fault of this current production, is interminable and completely unnecessary.  The characters spend so much of the final thirty minutes moralizing and expounding on the metaphor of ‘the City’ that any humanness is drained from them completely.

Hector Hank, who plays George Jr., does a decent job holding down the story and serves as a center piece for the other parts to orbit.  That he does so on crutches is a tough thing to watch (the actor was apparently injured for the performance.)  The actors around him are mostly unremarkable, and some, including the actor playing George Sr,. seemed to have neglected to fully learn their lines in time for the show.   Even with an earnest cast and a decent production design, the script’s familiar themes and  Muzin’s superficial updates are not enough to rescue this adaptation from obscurity.

The Group Rep presents THE CITY by Clyde Fitch, adapted and directed by Stan Mazin and directed by Mazin.  Produced by Britt Chichester and Lisa Mann, scenic design by Trefoni Michael Rizzi, lights by Ric Zimerman, costumes by Maro K Partin, sound by Alma Reyes-Thomas.

THE CITY opened Friday, January 22, and runs Friday and Saturday, 8:00 pm and Sunday, 3:00 pm through February 28, 2010.

Lonny Chapman Theatre is located at 10900 Burbank Blvd.  North Hollywood,  91601, just east of Vineland.

Tickets are $15 - $22 and are available at http://www.lcgrt.com or (818) 700-4878.