In spite of shortcomings, an excellent cast makes 'Ruthless!' worth seeing

By MICHAEL RYDZYNSKI (Irvine World News - November 13, 2003) Photo at right: Rob Blaney plays piano as Rebeka Hart and Rebecca Rogers emote in Concordia University's "Ruthless!" The entire cast shines in the sarcastic, self-deprecating and rather unlikable "Ruthless!" now playing at Concordia University's Studio Theater through Sunday.

Tina Denmark (Sarah O'Connor), an 8-year-old Shirley Temple-like moppet who knows she was born to entertain, wants the lead in her school play, "Pippi Longstocking in Tahiti," so badly that she's willing to kill the girl who has the lead. In this endeavor, she is goaded by Sylvia St. Croix (Kristin Meerdink), who becomes Tina's agent and guiding "angel."

Tina's mother, Judy Denmark (Becca Rogers), a self-professed no-talent housewife, is horrified to learn what her daughter has done, but soon comes to a realization herself. She was born Ginger Del Marco and she really has talent. So she turns Tina in and then transforms herself into a Bette Davis-Joan Crawford type of successful actress, haughty, full of herself and rude to everyone. But when her daughter comes home from prison, things take a turn for the weird.

The story, by Joal Paley, takes key plot points from "The Bad Seed," "All About Eve" and "Gypsy," among many others, for its inspiration. But the end result is less than satisfying.

No one is likeable or sympathetic, the songs - by Paley and Marvin Laird - are forgettable and highly unmelodic, and the denouement is very glib and pat. This is a musical without heart, which dulls the underlying serious message or moral of the story: being ruthless in pursuit of fame and wealth ultimately will cost you everything that is good.

It's to director Mic Shackelford's credit, owing in no small degree to a talented cast of eight, that "Ruthless!" is even watchable, given its substantial shortcomings. Of all the funny scenery chewers - and everyone is - Rogers is the lead chewer. In a part designed to show off two contrasting personalities, she shines equally as both the dutiful and caring (if shallow-minded) mother, Judy, and her alter-ego, the self-consumed and witchy Ginger.

Rogers pokes fun at '50s TV-sitcom-type housewife Judy while still retaining her humanity, especially in scenes with Tina. Then she does an about-face and sinks her teeth into a "Mommie Dearest" persona as Ginger, barking orders to everyone, including the poor onstage musicians who provide accompaniment and dramatic underscoring, pianists Rob Blaney (the show's music director) and Patricia Riffel and percussionist Dru Huston.

In a role originated off-Broadway by a man and usually played by one thereafter, Meerdink proves a woman can play the part of Sylvia after all and better than a man at that. Her facial expressions alone are worth sitting through the show. Her over-the-top flamboyance stands out, and that's no mean feat, considering everyone goes over the top in this one.

O'Connor turns in an amazing turn as Tina. She makes one believe she really is 8 - all right, more like 10 or 11 - instead of her real college age. She almost succeeds in making her character sympathetic. At any rate, she does make her lovable, even despite her murderous tendencies. And when she pouts or looks demure, she manages to appear huggable, a good example of underplaying at the right moments.

The rest of the cast is exemplary. Renetta Lehman is the quintessential frustrated, put-upon teacher, Ms. Thorn; Amanda Eckels is Ginger's slyly, conniving maid Eve; Judy's foster mother, Lita Encore, is played with acerbic wit and a superiority complex by Rachel Lomax; Louise Lerman, the girl with the lead role Tina is after, is portrayed with appropriate brattiness by Deanne Mallett; and Rebekah Hart plays reporter Emily Block with the not-too-subtle lesbian tendencies. (And there's a surprise ninth cast member — but you'll have to see the show to find out the surprise.)

Blaney and Co. provide not only wonderful support to the songs and action, but also have some of the funniest bits of the entire musical. That's also thanks to Shackelford, who included the orchestra on stage for that interaction with the actors. Roz and Renetta Lehman provide gaudy, brightly colored costumes that exude alternately of '50s ambience, albeit exaggeratedly - mother and daughter dresses are similarly overly billowed - and Park Avenue high-society. Wigs and makeup by Natalie Yonkers likewise over-accentuate the garish appearances of time and places, to great effect.

The student-built sets make good use of the limited space of the Studio Theatre and put one in the mood of a bygone era, slightly skewed.

Shackelford deftly balances the predominant flamboyance the musical requires with just enough moments of tenderness and reality for those necessary moments of breath-catching - moments that are nonetheless necessarily fleeting in the face of this material. It's a shame that material is not more worthy of his and his cast and crew's talents.


top