Dead End

I hope that title isn’t a statement on my life at the moment (although it feels like an appropriate comment about my blog since I can’t seem to find any time to write in here lately). That phrase is on my mind because Kendall and I saw the great new production of the Depression-era Sidney Kingsley play “Dead End” at the Ahmanson Theatre the other night. While the play ran on Broadway for two years in the 1930s and was the first command performance of a theatrical production in the White House (thanks to Eleanor Roosevelt), it has rarely been produced since because of its gargantuan 42-member cast and some difficult set pieces including the need to recreate New York’s East River on the stage.

And recreate it they did, by pumping over 11,000 gallons of water into the theatre’s orchestra pit. We don’t actually see the water from the audience but we sure hear it and feel it as the street kids dive, cannonball, and belly flop into the river throughout the play. The Ahmanson provides towels for the people sitting in the first row but Kendall and I sat in the second row and got splashed repeatedly. The rest of the set was equally grand in scale, showing an east side neighborhood in New York that contained a swanky upper class apartment building butting up against seedy and broken down tenements. I’m talking huge four-story buildings with activity going on in every apartment and people hanging out of windows and balconies. Truly amazing, but not in a gimmicky way that takes away from the content of the play like that stupid chandelier in “Phantom of the Opera.”

The story was, of course, made into the 1937 film “Dead End” starring Humphrey Bogart as Baby Face Martin and Sylvia Sidney as long-suffering Drina Gordon. Lillian Hellman adapted Kingsley’s play for the screen and did a great job although some of the more gritty aspects of the story had to be soft-pedaled. One of the main reasons gangster Martin comes back to his old neighborhood is to seek out his old love Francey, played in the film by Claire Trevor. What is painfully clear in the play version, but not so in the movie, is that Francey is now a prostitute and suffering from an advanced case of syphilis. The movie used many of the cast members from the Broadway play, including the street-wise actors who would become known in a series of films as the Dead End Kids, then the East Side Kids, and finally the Bowery Boys.

Despite the 1930s vernacular, the play’s tough look at how poverty clashes with privilege in America’s big cities is as timely today as it was 70 years ago. The cast here is extraordinary. Jeremy Sisto, aka Billy Chenowith of “Six Feet Under,” does a great job with Baby Face Martin, giving a very different interpretation than Bogart’s.  Tom Everett Scott plays Gimpty, a destitute out-of-work architect who is having a doomed affair with a woman living in the luxury apartment building. The kids are played by a group of talented young actors who nail the 30s dialogue perfectly ("Yew da noo kid onna block, aintcha? Yeah, I live on Foist Avenoo between Fifty-toid and Fifty-fawt.”), especially Ricky Ullman as Tommy, the leader of the gang. Apparently Ullman is a teen heartthrob on the Disney Channel but you’d never know it here in his decidedly un-Disney tough kid performance. Baby Face Martin has also returned to the hood to see his mother, brilliantly played by Joyce Van Patten (in the role that made Marjorie Main famous in the original play). Forget the East River—the brief scene between Sisto and Van Patten is worth the price of admission. Joyce Van Patten is a friend of Kendall’s family and it was a treat to spend some time with her after the show. One of my earliest TV memories is watching Joyce Van Patten on “The Danny Kaye Show” (with fellow cast member Harvey Korman). Remember when you couldn’t turn on a TV without seeing a Van Patten, whether it was Joyce, Dick, Vincent, Nels, Tim, Pat, James, or God knows how many others? Where have all the Van Pattens gone? (Should that be the new title of my blog?) Joyce is as charming as ever and thrilled to be part of this play. We saw Jeremy Sisto come out of his dressing room and he looks so different from poor demented Billy—much younger actually. He left the theatre with his dog who has a nice part in the play. 

I’ve been trying to make this NOT sound like a theatre review but I did want to urge people in L.A. to take advantage of the rare opportunity to see a full-scale production of this play while they can (it’s here through mid-October). Kendall is so furious at the negative L.A. Times review of the play that she sent a bitter letter to the paper last night. Here is an excerpt:

Thank you to the Times and Mr. James C. Taylor for a shabby, uninformed and oh-so-bitchy shot in the foot to Los Angeles theatre…faced with a magnificent thing, Mr. Taylor took the approach of a bad-tempered, unhappy child and instead of lauding this production and trying to light a fire under Los Angeles theatergoers to support it, chose to try to knock all the blocks down instead—and with such a true lack of understanding or love for the American theatre or its history that it is my dearest hope his reviews do not grace the pages of my hometown paper again.  I quote: “Since the play is not a staple, why didn’t the creative team trim and rework things a bit…”  This is the attitude towards the written word I expect from Hollywood development executives, not a theatre critic.  Yeah, let’s put another couple dozen writers on “Dead End”, see if we can make something out of it! Mr. Taylor’s main objection to “Dead End” seems to be that “both the play’s politics and its parlance are no longer fresh.”  Well, honey, “Wherefore art thou Romeo” ain’t exactly fresh parlance either, but it still packs a wallop and can open a mind (that isn’t closed shut by its own smugness) to new worlds.  As for the politics, you show me any play running right now that speaks more directly to this country after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.  The Dead End kids climbing out the water of the East River on the Ahmanson Theatre stage are the same kids who just got pulled out of the water in New Orleans. And is that rich lady with the Saks Fifth Avenue shopping bags just an out-of-date character in a deservedly forgotten play or doesn’t she bear a startling resemblance to Barbara Bush with her now infamous quote concerning the hurricane survivors now temporarily housed in Houston’s Astrodome: “So many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this is working very well for them.”

You go, Kendall. Coming from a theatre family, her hackles are easily raised by mean-spirited critics. While her father Oliver Hailey’s plays were performed to great success around the country, the Broadway productions were consistently derailed by vicious reviews. Why do so many critics seem to delight in being cruel? I’ll never forget theatre and movie critic John Simon’s critique of Liza Minnelli in New York Magazine years ago:

That turnipy nose overhanging a forward-gaping mouth and hastily retreating chin, that bulbous cranium with eyes as big (and as inexpressive) as saucers; those are the appurtenances of a clown - a funny clown, not even a sad one.

And then he said of wonderful Shelley Duvall:

The worst and most homeliest thing to hit the screens since Liza Minnelli.

And let’s not forget his vile assessment of Babs Streisand:

A cross between an aardvark and an albino rat surmounted by a platinum-coated horse bun...her acting consists entirely of fishily thrusting out her lips, sounding like a cabbie bellyaching at breakneck speed, and throwing her weight around.

What an ass. Maybe they should have let him write for other sections of the magazine—I’m sure he would have had a field day commenting on the physical appearances of people like Helen Keller, Anne Frank, and Mother Teresa. I hate to reprint his slime here but I ask you, are those legitimate comments from a critic or the ravings of a spoiled brat who was made fun of on the playgrounds of his youth and is now trying to exact some kind of sick revenge? At least there’s some justice—after 40 years he was finally pushed out of New York Magazine last May.

I hope the Los Angeles Times prints Kendall’s letter. Ironic that she wrote it on the very day that I had my first article published in that newspaper, a profile of our historic neighborhood for the real estate section. At least there’s no cruelty in that part of the paper (except for the outrageous and ever increasing prices of Los Angeles homes). The Times printed another story about “Dead End” in today’s paper, and it was a surprising one. Did you know that only two people are still alive from the original Broadway production of the play and that one of them is none other than Earl Blackwell, the creator of the annual list of Worst Dressed Celebrities. Who knew that he was once a Dead End Kid? That seems like a stretch, but I’m holding my tongue from the many bitchy comments coming to mind lest I start sounding like a disgruntled critic.

Comments

[Rosie]

I love the idea of filling an orchestra pit with water...that goes against every convention of theatre. Thank god for Ibsen, Shaw, Chekov and the other realists who brought about my favorite revolution in theatre!

[chris]

Jeremy Sisto was creepy as Billy. But he was twice as creepy as Brady in the Catherine Hardwicke movie "Thirteen." I'd love to see him in a different kind of role (with or without the dog).

[Danny]

How about as Jesus Christ? Jeremy Sisto played the title role in 1999's "Jesus" costarring Jacqueline Bissett as the Virgin Mary and Debra Messing (Grace from "Will and Grace") as Mary Magdaline. OY!

[Rosie]

Why is it that when I think of Mary Magdaline, I don't think of Debra Messing?

That must have been an...interesting production.

[Neil]

Frankly, when I heard about this opening, I had negative views about it because of the radio commercial emphasizing the water. I figured it was just a gimmicky show. But now I want to see it.

[Lisa]

"most homeliest?" Ye gods. Doesn't that make your editorial blood boil?

[Your Supportive Wife]

My darling, I did hate having to launch my vicious attack on the same day the LA Times did something so RIGHT by publishing your article. And I swear it was only "ironic" -- not passive-aggressive!!! If only you were the LA Times Theatre/Movie Critic!!! Now that would be a Calendar section that could save this city!

[Kiara]

WOW that is great omgosh that is whoa hmm i better go see it huh?! haha okie dokie READ ON!!!

[OldLady Of The Hills]

What a terrific 'review' of DEAD END Danny....it is a review in the best sense of the word and Kendall's letter is GREAT! You Go Girl, Indeed!!!! Having been a victim of critics as well as a tiny bit of a darling once in a while, too, I really think it's a Shanda that reviewers have this power to make or break a play...Luckily, not the case here in L.A. From what I hear from Ms. V.P. audiences are coming 'en mass' and loving it!! I hated that that Taylor A--hole didn't even acknowledge J.V.P...I mean, Co'Monnnnn!
Her part may be small, but as Spencer Tracy said, 'It's Cherce! (Is THAT how you spell that?) Anyway, I agree with Kendall, you should be the Theatre Critic for the L.A. Times! Thanks for giving me a 'heads up' about this post, I had missed it, somehow! Drat! I really really love ALL your blogs Danny, a whole lot!!!!