By Steve Odenthal
I was a bit out of my comfort-zone this evening as I approached my review assignment at the Eccles Theatre, a black-box theatre at Weber State University. In The Now Productions’ Candy & Dorothy is not the kind of show that you will see offered everywhere. It is a show that deals frankly with ideology, belief systems, social norms (and ab-norms), and then digs deeper from there–touching on despair, depression, desperation, substance abuse, and suicide. These are not the makings of your normal comedy. No, these are hard things,and hard things make up our lives.
Playwright David Johnston has somehow laced the direct, confrontational, hard language of today’s desperate existence in the Lower East Side, which it seems has forever been populated with the “poorest of the poor,” with the works and dreams of two historical characters from the area. The play first makes clear that there is no evidence that these two historical characters ever encountered one another in this life, and then remedies that situation by putting them together as “invisible friends” to Tamara (Latoya Cameron), who is at a crossroad as she deals with the absolute poverty both of the area and of her own life.
Just who are Tamara’s new apartment mates? Well, neither is the fairy godmother type that can wave a wand and make things better. One is Dorothy Day (Nell Gwynn), a woman who experienced all of the Bohemian ways and lifestyles in the early 1900’s before converting to Catholicism and devoting her life to the causes and concerns of the people of the Lower East Side. So dedicated and defiant in her support of those less fortunate, she faced the jail cell a number of times and never flinched. It seems a rap sheet becomes a problem in the afterlife, even for someone that in our time is said to be on the fast-track to sainthood. As Dorothy goes about her “tests” that involve the reclamation of Tamara’s tortured life, the would-be saint reports to her supervisor, and to the third leg of this triangle. Candy Darling (William Richardson) is a transsexual character both in this play and was in real life as well when she lived in the Lower East Side, becoming famous after being boosted publicly by Andy Warhol and his crowd in the 1960s. Her choice was to be a woman, in fact, a glamorous woman, and she based her look and mannerisms on the actress Kim Novak, whom she idolized. While her choices and pursuits in her time on earth were not accepted easily by the world, she obtained a level of success as an actress in her own right, and in Candy & Dorothy, she carries on with grace and dignity as she applies herself to the assignments she has been given, one of which is the straight-laced Dorothy Day.
This is not some kind of rehashing of The Odd Couple meets Sixth Sense where “I see dead people” becomes the norm for Tamara. This situation is much worse for the young woman whose choices and walls are crashing in. Is there enough time for her to even pay attention to her visitors before she sprints toward another bad decision? We will see.
Phillip R. Lowe (a disembodied voice of authority) is perhaps the final rung, or at the very least the next rung up the ladder, who does a great job of taking a lighter tone and delivery to impose his “tests” and appraisals of both Dorothy and Candy as we progress.
Tyson Baker (Sid) plays a great nice-guy in his role as both bartender and casual boyfriend when convenient. We were certain that his convenience would remain under-appreciated by Tamara as she dealt with life and its struggles, which now included Dorothy and Candy. Baker seems to handle the evening’s more racy scene in relative stride, but luckily for all of us, the playwright rescues all with perhaps the biggest laugh of the night. Yes, somehow in all this heavy stuff, this is a gentle comedy; in fact, several in the audience shared how pleasantly surprised they had been with the show.
Each role is well cast. I knew going in a bit about each character, especially Candy Darling and Dorothy Day. I believe that I expected some character assassination and I really was not looking forward to that, but I am happy to say that I saw none of that. My viewing of the play is of Candy as a woman who has progressed the best she can and now meets her assignments with accumulated abilities and determination in the afterlife. Richardson captures what Candy would have wanted her life to be and portrays the role flawlessly. I had no difficulty seeing and accepting the premise of the character. From the opening moments of the first scene, she was fully invested in her “tests” and we, the audience, were invested in her.
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I saw Dorothy as the determined, straight-laced do-gooder. True, the picture we are painted is more of a harder-edged, “let me talk to someone in charge” persona, but she wants to play by the rules. Gwynn does a marvelous job, bordering on a tour-de-force and it is hard to know that both leads are so in step with their characters that there simply has to be facial riches and twitches we can’t help but miss. We, as an audience, want to experience them all, and thereby understand so much more about each of these historic figures.
This play is one that I would highly recommend to anyone over 18 who is not offended by language. It deals with timely issues in a straightforward way. It doesn’t give us a cure, but instead gives us discussion and understanding. True, this show is not for everyone. In fact, if the idea of frank confrontation of issues is upsetting to you, wait for a musical—there are many going up every week in Utah. But if you relish the conversations and intrigues of finding common ground in areas not easily tread, Candy and Dorothy might be the perfect show for you. I enjoyed it very much, and the takeaway is to always be searching for the “wonderful undones.”
In The Now Productions presents Candy & Dorothy by David Johnston
Eccles Theatre, WSU Browning Center, 3950 W. Campus Dr., Ogden, UT 84401
June 20-24, Wednesday-Saturday 8:00 PM, Sunday 1:00 PM, 4:00 PM
Tickets: $20 available up to ½ hour before the performance online and by cash at the door
In The Now Productions’ social media handle is @InTheNowShows
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