A Catered Affair

SAT, OCT 20 - Went down to San Diego this weekend to see the Broadway-bound musical A Catered Affair at the Old Globe Theatre. The show is a small, quietly emotional musical that employs and excellent cast and tight direction in an efficient, 90-minute package. I enjoyed the show a lot in the moment, mostly because I was so taken by Faith Prince's wonderful and moving performance, but thinking back on it, I'm frustrated by unsatisfying gaps in the story, and the show registers more as a fairly quaint memory. The trip was worth it, though, just to see Faith Prince.

Set in the 50s after World War II, Janey (Leslie Kritzer) wants to marry her boyfriend Ralph (Matt Cavenaugh) in a quick, no-fuss ceremony at City Hall, avoiding extravagance in the wake of her brother's death in the war. Her mother, though (played by the excellent Faith Prince), wants to make up for lost time with her daughter and send her off with an extravagant catered affair - as both a parting gift to her last remaining child and to give her daughter the kind of wedding that she herself never had. Conflict arises when money is harder to come by; a bereavement check arrives from the government for the son's death, but the money could also be used to buy a taxi medalion and presumably lift a lot more financial burden than a catered affair. Numerous smaller characters (ie a gay uncle played by Harvey Fierstein) weave in and out of the plot as well.

(Photo: Craig Schwartz. Leslie Kritzer and Faith Prince.)

Even though the plot hinges on the daughter's wedding, the show really ends up being about the mother's emotional journey - from learning about her daughter's wedding plans while still grieving her son, to her brightness and hope at planning a big gift for her daughter but conflict with her husband, to ultimate reconciliation and compromise. It's a sweet emotional arc, since most people can identify with wanting something better - and that feeling gets a bit amplified here as the character wants something better for her daughter. Faith Prince walked away with the show, turning in a truly magnificent performance that is nuanced, heartfelt and moving. Leslie Kritzer as the daughter was good as well, though her performance was much quieter. The role is written a bit strangely, as you can see there is tension and "history" between her and her mother, but the role doesn't provide much by way of transition between this tension and the tenderness required to make the conflict feel real. Kritzer managed to make us believe that she had some sort of special, loving relationship with her mom, though without necessarily explaining away the gap. Tom Wopat played the father, and was good at being here -still some of the line readings felt somewhat false.

Harvey Fierstein wrote the book and produced the show, and also has a character role in the play. The character's presence fine, but there role has too much stage time for what really amounts to a minor role in the story - as Janey's gay uncle who is very close to the family, he at first doesn't get invited to the City Hall wedding because Janey only wants a small "immediate family" gathering. This causes hurt feelings, but he later helps to plan the larger catered affair that Janey's mother wants. Fierstein's character gets three major songs, one of them early in the show - which skews the focus towards his character and gives it much more importance, only to have the character fall into a supporting role for the rest of the play. As the show is still being worked on, I suppose some of these things are still fixable?

John Doyle's tight direction kept things moving at a brisk place, though with notable pauses in the action for some very effective dramatic pauses: in one moment, a government official arrives with their bereavement check, and the action grinds to a halt as the family considers each object they have just been handed, piece by piece - a very well considered and staged moment.

The show really felt more like a play with music than a musical - even the songs, by John Bucchino, have a conversational and spoken-dialogue feel to them. The story and the show are small and intimate, both physically (small cast, small set) and memorably. Though a great single night in the theater, its impact was ultimately rather small for me. But did I mention Faith Prince?

Thankfully, we hit none of the fire areas during our trip to San Diego, though by Sunday it was beginning to get smoky. The Tuesday and Wednesday performances (so far) at the Old Globe were cancelled this week, not because the theater is threatened but because of the smoke in the air and the county's desire to keep roads as clear as possible. La Jolla Playhouse and the UCSD campus have also been evacuated; wonder what that means for the upcoming pre-Broadway tryout of Cry Baby, which was supposed to have started rehearsals there this week. In any case - best wishes for everyone in San Diego, and hope that this all ends very quickly and safely!