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HEAR THE DSO IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!
MOZART & HAYDN
Sandy Birch (Slide Grauman), Leah Smith (Brooke Wyeth) and Bryan Lark
(Trip Wyeth) in Other Desert Cities
Ward Stare, conductor • Elena Urioste, violin
Other Desert Cities
MOZART Overture to The Marriage of Figaro
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS The Lark Ascending
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1, "Classical"
RAVEL Tzigane
HAYDN Symphony No. 60, "The Distracted"
JET closes 25th-anniversary season
with a not-to-be-missed drama.
Ronelle Grier
Contributing Writer
W
hen a brilliant script
meets a gifted cast and an
imaginative director, the
result is the spectacular JET season finale
Other Desert Cities, the Pulitzer Prize-
nominated play written by Jon Robin
Baitz and directed by David Wolber.
Other Desert Cities is a co production
with Ann Arbor's Performance
Network Theatre.
Thanks to the skill of Wolber,
artistic director at Performance
Network, there is never a dull moment,
even though the play runs close to 21/2
hours, including intermission.
The many memorable lines are deliv-
ered with perfect timing, and the plot is
riveting, with a stunning twist near the
end so surprising it elicited literal gasps
from some of the audience members,
including myself.
The story takes place on Christmas
Eve in the Palm Springs home of
Lyman (Hugh Maguire) and Polly (Naz
Edwards) Wyeth. Their daughter, Brooke
(Leah Smith), a New York writer, has
come to visit, bringing the manuscript
of her latest book, a memoir that reveals
certain deep family secrets her parents
would prefer to leave buried.
Adding to the mix are Brooke's brother
Trip (Bryan Lark), who produces a
popular reality TV show in Los Angeles,
and Polly's sister, Silda (Sandra Birch),
an outspoken recovering alcoholic who
is staying with Lyman and Polly after a
recent relapse.
Lyman's desire to put Brooke's memoir
on hold and enjoy the Christmas holiday
is quickly thwarted as old wounds sur-
face, and the family members express
their conflicting recollections of events
surrounding the death of the oldest son,
Henry, several years earlier.
Brooke, who was hospitalized due to
severe depression and a mental break-
down after her brother's death, believes
that telling her family's story is crucial to
her recovery.
Polly, who has become an old-guard
Hollywood Republican despite her
-
Texas/Jewish upbringing, is determined
to stop Brooke from publishing a book
she believes will ruin her family beyond
repair.
Lyman, a staunch Republican who
has been given an ambassadorship by
his friend President Ronald Reagan, is
torn between love for his daughter and
his loyalty to his wife and the image they
have worked so hard to create.
Tempers flare as Polly and Brooke face
off while the other family
members choose their alle-
giances against a backdrop
of more universal issues
such as party politics and social respon-
sibility; even mental illness and alcohol-
ism become part of the larger discussion.
The cast is extraordinary, individually
and together. Edwards is sublime as the
WASP-y, world-weary Polly, who strug-
gles to maintain her image in the face of
her anything-but-conventional family.
Maguire is the perfect partner, managing
to reveal the loving father and husband
beneath his politically correct exterior.
Smith is entirely convincing as the
angst-ridden daughter who tries to hold
onto her ideals without losing her fragile
serenity. Lark shows a deeper side of the
seemingly happy-go-lucky Trip, the son
who is profoundly affected by events he
is too young to remember.
If there is such a thing as comic relief
in this play, it is found in Birch's por-
trayal of Silda, who likens Palm Springs
to King Tut's tomb, calling it a town "full
of mummies with tans."
The Wyeth abode was artfully cre-
ated by Set Designer Dan Walker, with
the assistance of Props Designer and
Set Decorator Diane Ulseth. Mary
Copenhagen's costumes enhance each
character's persona.
Appropriate and entertaining musi-
cal interludes are courtesy of Sound
Designer Phil Powers, with lighting
design by Mary Cole.
REVIEW
Thurs., May 8 at 7:30 p.m.
DSO in West Bloomfield
Berman Center for the Performing Arts
6600 W. Maple Rd.
Sat., May 10 at 8 p.m.
Urioste
DSO in Bloomfield Hills
Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church
1340 W. Long Lake Rd.
T S O
DETROIT
SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
LEONARD SLATKIN Music Director
A COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED ORCHESTRA
TICKETS AND MORE INFO AT
dso.org or 313.576.5111
GROUPS OF 10 OR MORE CALL 313.576 5130
Over 35 years of Chinese Food Experience.
65 Freshest and
High drtlity Vrredientsn
(GRAND OPENING
%
10 OFF
TOTAL FOOD BILL
*cannot combine with other
offers. Expires 5/18/14.
.4010121;
° Art
248-683115566kW. Bloomfield • 4276,Orchard Lake Rd. (Between Cone Rine & Pontiicikail)
2nd location Commerce Township • 248-669-1133
ember's deli
*NIMI`W ATED: t
May 18 at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield. (248)
788-2900; jettheatre.org .
906420
NOW OPEN
FOR DINNER-
Monday - Friday
7am - 8pm
Buy One Entree and get
OW
Second Entree
$3
I.
Expires May 29, 2014
Valid for Dinner only
Not valid with any other offer
10 OFF
Party or
Shiva Trays
Not valid with any other offer.
Same Day Service Available.
a
3598 W. Maple at Lahser
❑
Other Desert Cities runs through
"WE HAVE
GLUTEN FREE
& VEGETARIAN
DISHES"
(next to Kroger)
We Deliver! Deli-Fresh Deli-Delicious!
OPEN DAILY! Mon.-Fri.: 7am -8p
Phone:
Sa t.
45
tncl 5m.g
- pu 1906990
May 1 • 2014
49