THE THEATER MIRROR, New England's LIVE Theater Guide
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note: entire contents copyright 2008 by Beverly Creasey
If your mother told you never to laugh at someone else’s expense, she never saw Douglas Carter Beane’s THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED (at SpeakEasy through February 16th). This naughty send-up of show biz morality is proof positive that laughter is the best revenge. Beane has tangled with Tinseltown himself and lived to tell the tale.
Not since the dish ran away with the spoon, have so many mismatches been so cleverly aligned --- and realigned --- but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The very best reason to see THE LITTLE DOG is Maureen Keiller as the ferocious, tart tongued uber-agent who could, if she desired to, bully superpowers into submission. (Let’s send her to end the war in Iraq!) Resplendent in a red carpet-worthy, spun gold gown by Gail Astrid Buckley, she wheels and deals her way around both coasts, steering the career of an up and coming actor (Robert Serrell) on the brink of stardom.
Beane’s dialogue is rife with hip, in-jokes about Hollywood and knowing references to famous movies (and one terribly unfunny reference to AIDS which doesn’t fit the overall cheeky tone of the play). He bloodies Nicole Kidman’s nose but isn’t so obvious about his model for the superstar. Everyone at intermission was trying to guess who it really is who’s “protecting his fan base” by hiding his homosexuality. (Can you believe it, in this day and age?)
Angie Jepson is the sassy, fast talking manipulator who is checkmated by Keiller’s grand master --- but it’s Jonathan Orsini’s character of the sweet hustler we really care about. Orsini makes him earnest and vulnerable, and so charismatic that we’re rooting for him to get what he wants. (By elevating him at play’s end, director Paul Melone let’s us know he will.)
Eric Levenson’s sleek ultra-modern, two level, beamed set (bathed in warm, golden light by Jeff Adelberg) niftily affords Keiller a Valhalla-esque perch.