[NEohioPAL] Review of "A Steady Rain" at CVLT

[Bob Abelman]

CVLT's 'A Steady Rain' more drizzle than dramatic deluge 

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review appeared in the News Herald on 7/6/12

 

 

Keith Huff's "A Steady Rain," currently playing at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, is an intriguing little two-hander about life-long friends who are partners and polar opposites on a police force that has repeatedly passed them over for promotion.

 

Though the play harnesses the guttural vernacular of Chicago street cops and employs urban unrest and human frailty as its backdrop, it is a surprisingly poetic work.

 

The play features two guys on a bare stage taking turns delivering poignant, highly romanticized monologues that flashback on their troubled and intersecting lives.  Their exchanges are rhythmic to the point of being lyrical, as if these cops just stepped out of a film noire detective movie.  The narrative contains so much descriptive detail that the audience is whisked away to dark alleyways and an entire ensemble of unseen secondary characters is conjured and given form through words alone. 

 

"A Steady Rain" has all the ingredients for an intimate and entertaining drama.  All theaters need do is find two powerful actors to give it voice, an imaginative director to give them guidance and two straight-back chairs as the only set pieces.  Add water and stir. 

 

The CVLT production provides only the chairs. 

 

Christopher Crimaldi plays the rogue cop, Denny, who is the alpha male in this partnership.  Denny justifies his bad behavior and distorted code of ethics as the best way to protect and provide for his wife and child.  He is as volatile, bullying and racist as he is devoted, and wears his deficiencies and dysfunction as boldly as his shield.  

 

At least on paper.  Not much of this translates to the stage on opening night due to Crimaldi's insecurities with his volumes of dialogue.  Preoccupied with just getting the words out, he speaks his lines rather than acts them.  As a result, Denny's combustibility, con-artist charm and blind self-assuredness are neutralized.  

 

In a play that offers just two guys on a stage, this performance has an unfortunate cascading effect on the rest of the production.  The momentum built into this play, for instance, slows to a crawl with each hesitation and miscue.  Denny's connection with his partner Joey, which is the glue that holds this play together, is also a casualty and comes across as tenuous at best.   

 

Joey has grown accustomed to being dominated, protected and held back by his partner and turns a blind eye to Denny's shortcomings as a friend, husband and father.  He is a brooding, vulnerable and lonely recovering alcoholic, and is played with great tenderness by Tim Walsh.

  

Neither Crimaldi nor Walsh's performances are aided by director Kate Tonti's decision to keep the production values to an absolute minimum.  No sound of a steady rain in the background is utilized to create a sense of foreboding.  No lighting effects or shadow-play serve to accentuate the characters' isolation or indicate shifts in their relationship.  No subtle touches of scenic design allude to time, place or temperament.  

 

Leaving it all up to the actors is a bold choice that may prove effective once they master the material and trust the words and each other.  On the opening night of "A Steady Rain," however, the waters were tested and found to be too shallow.

 

"A Steady Rain" continues through July 14 at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre's River Street Playhouse, 40 River Street, Chagrin Falls.  For tickets, which are $10, call 440-247-8955 or visit www.cvlt.org.

 
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