TABLE FOR TWO: Dan Saski (top) and Justin Sheuer (bottom) both
play Sam -- and over 40 other characters -- in RVP's 'Totally
Committed,' a comedy about fine dining and class warfare.
Article Launched: Marin Independent Journal, 07/18/2007 11:07:47 PM PDT
By Mark Langton
IJ Correspondent
Never mind the preposterous-sounding menu of jicama-flavored, pan-seared tartlets of rock Cornish seahorse legs on fricasseed beds of virgin butterball lettuce, presented on Busby Berkeley platters of chocolate-dipped despondent leather covered in slightly warmed-over, neo-retro Yuppie sauce.
As it plays out in Ross Valley Players' production of Becky Mode's "Fully Committed," it's not about the food. At the top of the food chain, anyway, it's apparently more about the power.
RVP held not one but two opening nights last week, as befits a one-man show that's been double cast, for the sixth and final production of their 77th season, now playing through Aug. 19 at the Barn Theater in Ross.
Dan Saski of Rohnert Park and Justin Scheuer of Sonoma will alternate in the lead role of Sam Peliczowski, an out-of-work actor who mans the reservation hot line of the hottest restaurant on Manhattan's Upper East Side in this searingly funny send-up of negotiated power.
It is not necessary to see both actors to appreciate director Argo Thompson's take on the playwright's skewering of status-conscious New York restaurant-goers, megalomaniac chefs, coked-up maitre d's and anorexic, vegan VIPs. But it makes for a fascinating experiment in theater for any intrepid audience member willing to see how two actors with widely different styles might handle the same role.
The play follows a day in the life of Sam, who has the unenviable job of sitting in a restaurant basement before a bank of phones that looks like the dashboard of the Apollo 7 to referee the dirtiest Fight Club around. He discovers the pathetic lengths to which status-obsessed, trendy diners will go for a not-so-simple meal and the "right" table, regardless of their appetite.
We neither see the restaurant nor hear its name. All we are privy to is the dank, dingy underbelly of the glittery restaurant scene as Sam does his business in the restaurant's windowless basement, a dark place, strewn with storage, steam pipes, filing cabinets and other clutter (thanks to Patrick Kroboth's detailed and gloriously unattractive set design, angled so we see Sam's frantic, multitasking feet before we see his face).
And if it isn't enough that poor Sam has to be all things to all people, the actor playing Sam has to be all people - literally - as the play is designed for one actor to play more than 40 characters, all except Sam appearing via phone calls to the reservation line or through the intercom from upstairs in the restaurant.
It wouldn't be fair or accurate to say that one actor is any better than the other in this production. Saski and Scheuer take such different approaches to the role. If hard-pressed, it would probably be safe to say that Friday's performance by Saski showed the lion's share of experience as he skillfully managed to switch between more than 40 voices at breakneck speed. He artfully employed "actorly" tricks to delineate each voice, hopping from one side of the conversation to the other with a swift change of tone, posture and manner. Saski embodied some unforgettable characters - from the obsequious squealing of Naomi Campbell's overly solicitous assistant, Bryce; the laconic southern drawl of Rick from "Carrrrsonnnn Ay-vee-AY-tionnnnn" to the thick French accent of Jean-Claude, the maitre-d'hotels who thinks every woman has the "face of a dooog," In Saski's hands, once you became tuned into the style and the rhythm of the show (which doesn't take very long), at times you forgot he was alone on stage.
However, in Scheuer's hands during Saturday's performance were different strengths, in different areas, as well as other insights that came from other kinds of choices. With Scheuer, we meet a more frantic and thus more vulnerable Sam, who gets a little lost among the vivid caricatures of aggressive power players and wheedling sycophants. It should be quickly said, however, that this may have been deliberate - Scheuer, in a conversation at dinner before the show, described losing Sam as part of the process of rehearsal. That seems to serve him well later on as it better describes the arc that Sam must make in order for the character to find resolution when Sam appears to find himself at play's end.
It was fascinating to see the approaches of these two actors. There were the little touches (for example, where Saski did a dead-on impression of Keanu Reeves calling in for a table, it was amusing to find Scheuer doing the same scene with an impression of Nicholas Cage). There were the big ones, as with their game plans with the most developed character of all, the chef.
In fact, the crowning achievement of this script and of both of these actors is the chef. Of all of the characters, he is Mode's greatest creation. Whether he is done in bullying Brooklynese (as with Saski) or with the mischief of an Irishman (as with Scheuer), Chef's vivid schadenfreude - his delight in other people's pain - is so intense that it's downright fetishistic.
What makes this play so satisfying is that all of the frustrating characters get their comeuppance in one way or another as Sam discovers his own power by observing the frantic positioning of others. In that sense, it is a coming of age story for Sam, as he appears to come to the realization that it is part of the human condition to barter, that we all jockey for position for a place at that table, that all of us are whores in one way or another, and that he, too, has a dog in that hunt.
And, in case anyone has ever wondered, THAT'S why the lady (as Sam sings as he jaunts out the door at the end of his long day) is a tramp.
IF YOU GO
- What: "Fully Committed" by Becky Mode
- Who: Ross Valley Players
- Where: The Barn Theatre, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Ross
- When: Through Aug. 19; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays (July 29, Aug. 2, 9, 16)
- Tickets: $16 to $20; all tickets $16 Thursdays; "pay what you will" July 20 with tickets on sale at the box office between 7 and 7:20 p.m.
- Information: 456-9555, http://www.rossvalleyplayers.com/
- Casting note: Dan Saski and Justin Scheuer play the role of Sam in alternating performances. This show is double-cast, and actors will alternate performances.
- Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of five
Mark Langton can be reached at mark.langton@comcast.net.
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