[NEohioPAL] Review of "Made in America" at Dobama Theatre

Bob Abelman r.abelman at adelphia.net
Sat Mar 8 20:27:37 PST 2014


Partial assembly required in Dobama's 'Made in America'

 

Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the Cleveland Jewish News on 3/14/14

 

 

When the lights come up on Joel Hammer's "Made in America," currently enjoying its world premiere at Dobama Theatre in Cleveland Hts., we meet sales rep Esther (Colleen Longshaw) and buyer Barry (Joel Hammer) at a hotel bar.  They stand toe to toe with drinks in hand, ready to talk shop and do business.  She wants to close the deal, score the commission and fly back to California; he wants to play hard to get in order to get what he can under the table or, perhaps, on the side.

 

So begins a promising play that sheds light on backroom deals, the martial art and unethical craft of contract negotiation, and the indelicate dance performed by those who have with those who want.

 

But what plays out on stage is a poor man's "Glengarry Glen Ross" - another dark comedy about salesmen, salesmanship, and the personal and professional cost of doing business.  "Made in America" lacks the depth, drive, and drama of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, despite promotional claims to the contrary.  And while an interesting work, it is not nearly as engaging or satisfying. 

 

Like Mamet, who himself worked the same Chicago real estate territory as his play's characters, Hammer's off-stage career in business makes him familiar with the vendor/customer relationship and the types of personalities involved in negotiating sales and closing deals.  Consequently, his Barry is the real deal - a crude and cocky middle manager whose bravado and reckless demeanor belies some genuine business smarts.  And Hammer plays him convincingly.    

 

In one stellar scene early in the play, Barry brags about his negotiating prowess by recalling the time he bested a merchant at a thrift market by talking down the price of a cheap pair of sunglasses.  This well written and brilliantly delivered monologue all at once offers insight into Barry's shameless soul and serves as prophecy for the direction his business meeting with Esther will be taking. 

 

Unfortunately, most of the dialogue in this two-act, two-hour production loiters around already established territory and stumbles over its own overkill rather than raising the stakes or tactically progressing the plot.  As such, this play moves ploddingly through the shifting power struggle between Barry and Esther.  And the language, while at times powerful and justifiably profane, never rises to the street poetry that Mamet offers his audiences and which makes the characters so much more interesting to listen to.

 

As a black female, Esther provides an intriguing counterpoint to Barry's whiteness and old-boy mentality, and Longshaw plays both the race card and her character's sexuality delightfully close to the vest.  However, each time her obvious gender and color are explicitly referenced in the dialogue, which the playwright does often, they are exposed as mere theatrical contrivances and are cheapened accordingly.  When, in the second act, these contrivances become more central to the storytelling, the play loses much of its authenticity.

 

Director Scott Miller, who spearheaded marvelous productions of "Sons of the Prophet," "Dead Man's Cell Phone" and "The Seafarer" at Dobama, seems handcuffed here.  Perhaps it's because one half of the play moors its characters to a table in the corner of a bar and the other half has them tied to a bed in a hotel room.  As such, movement seems motivated by the need to have something to look at rather than the story itself.  This adds another layer of artificiality to the proceedings.

 

This play offers up some wonderful and surprising moments, particularly at the close of each act, but the audience needs to overlook too many shortcomings in between and piece together the good parts of this play.  Partial assembly should not be required, particularly in a play titled "Made in America."

   

WHAT:           "Made in America"

WHERE:        Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Rd., Cleveland Heights.

WHEN:           Through Sunday, April 6

TICKETS:      $10 - $26.  Call 216-932-3396 or visit www.dobama.org.
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