[NEohioPAL] Review of Ensemble Theatre's "Huck and Holden"

[Bob Abelman]

'Huck and Holden' a delightful yet unsatisfying diversion

 

Bob Abelman

 

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald 5/13/11

 

The earlier works of successful playwrights offer both a glance at the genius to come and evidence that it ain't there yet.  Such is the case with "Huck and Holden," an early play by Rajiv Joseph being performed by Ensemble Theatre.



Joseph, a Cleveland Heights native, was a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for his "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo," which is currently playing on Broadway to wonderful reviews.  With the Gulf war as its backdrop, "Bengal Tiger" serves as a sensitive-to-the-touch reminder of the self-destructive nature of the human animal.  It is a serious play, filled with fearless theatrical metaphors, powerful images, and bouts of extremely dark humor.



By comparison, the one-act, one-dimensional "Huck and Holden" is a Thursday night sitcom on CBS.



This is a fun, titillating piece of made-for-TV entertainment rather than a satisfying piece of engaging theater. There is an occasional glimmer of something grander in the storytelling, but it comes too late and shines too little.



Navin (played by an adorable Daniel Caraballo) is a fish-out-of-water archetype.  He is an unassuming, doe-eyed college student from India who needs to write a term paper that compares Huck from "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" with Holden from "The Catcher in the Rye."  Navin is as naïve about American literature as he is about American culture and human sexuality, and much of the humor in this play derives from situational misunderstandings associated with both.



Think Raj from "The Big Bang Theory" (before drinking alcohol) meets Latka from "Taxi."



While attempting to locate the two books for his report, Navin encounters Michelle (an affable and endearing Kristi Little).  She is an attractive African American student working as a part-time librarian.  Michelle likes him, but she's in a relationship with Torry (an engaging Kyle Carthens).  He likes her, but he is an unassuming, doe-eyed college student from India who is driven by duty to his family and handcuffed by the social customs of his native land.  Let the games begin.  

 

The main conceit of this play is that Navin will learn about adventure and America from the iconic rebels in his assigned texts. He will learn about sex from Michelle and, in a funny but highly contrived scene, from her boyfriend Torry as well.

 

True to the TV sitcom formula, "Huck and Holden" comes complete with pratfalls, punch lines and a lovable sidekick character.  The sidekick is the physical manifestation of Navin's memory of a popular and daring Sikh schoolmate named Singh (a charming Ammen Sulieman), who pushes Navin toward Michelle and the life unexplored.

  

Director Celeste Costentino clearly understands what she is working with here.  She keeps the short scenes moving at sitcom-speed and makes sure Joseph Mitchell's lighting and scenic designs are sitcom-bright and sitcom-simple.  No laugh track is required, for Joseph's writing is consistently clever and the performers are superb.

 

Glimpses of the playwright's sardonic humor and pendent for the quirky, so prominent in his later writing, surface when the Hindu goddess Kali (a delightful Neda Spears) shows up to complicate matters.  She is the equivalent of the meddlesome mother-in-law from the sitcom catalogue, only with multiple arms, a necklace made of baby's heads and a bit of thought-provoking perspective and social commentary.



Think Raj from "The Big Bang Theory" (after drinking alcohol) meets Marie Barone from "Everybody Loves Raymond."



Joseph's "Huck and Holden" is not on par with "Bengal Tiger" but, then, Twain and Salinger also had to learn their craft and find their voices before their respective masterworks came to fruition.  While not the stuff of a deeply satisfying theater experience, there was the inclination after the opening night performance to come back to the Cleveland Play House the same time the following week in search of the next episode.



"Huck and Holden" continues through May 29 in The Cleveland Play House's Studio One Theatre.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $20, call 216-321-2930 or visit www.ensemble-theatre.org.   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20110509/55d5084f/attachment-0003.htm>