Review Preview: "The Time of Your Life"

Here's the draft of my review of "The Time of Your Life" at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Expect it to be published Friday in the Daily Record. I don't know when or if you'll see it in the Courier News (long story for another time), but you've got it right here, so what's the diff, right?

Theater review
If you want to go:
What: “The Time of Your Life”
When: through Sept. 30
Where: F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre, 36 Madison Ave. (Route 124), Madison
How much: $28 to $52
Info: (973) 408-5600; www.shkespearenj.org

By WILLIAM WESTHOVEN
Staff Writer
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for William Saroyan writes them well. The prize-collection of back-alley knockabouts he wrote about in “The Time of Your Life” certainly are exalted in this rarely seen 1939 classic, revived with stylish detail at the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.
Premiering on Broadway at the tail end of the Depression, Saroyan’s tragic comedy struck enough chords to claim both a Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics Award. While the cynical may find it somewhat sentimental and naïve, it’s easy to understand the play’s appeal—the lifting up of the downtrodden, with enough humor and conflict to entertain representatives of all social classes.
It all happens in a not-quite-seedy bar, Nick’s Pacific Street Saloon (James Wolk’s set is a stunningly detailed work of art), in the rough commercial-waterfront district of San Francisco. From behind the bar, burly Nick (Gregory Derelian) says everyone is welcome, although they may have to endure a few of his insults. An Arab immigrant (Paul Meshejian) claims the bar’s corner seat, sipping slowly and responding to all inquiries with the catchphrase, “no foundation, all the way down the line.”
Others visit seeking employment, including a bad dancer and comedian (Blake Hackler), a pianist (Anthony Stokes) and a parade of streetwalkers. Others come and go, but Joe (Andrew Weems) takes up residency at one table, cheerfully chatting up the barflies and buying rounds with a wad of cash that never taps out.
Joe takes advantage of one regular, Tom (Ned Noyes), a simpleminded young man who runs Joe’s peculiar errands, ranging from buying toys and gum to tipping the nearby, unseen Salvation Army band.
For a show lasting more than two hours, very little happens, but everyone’s got a story to tell. A prostitute (Sofia Jean Gomez) who calls herself Kitty Duvall claims a background in burlesque, while the comedian, Harry, auditions with a monologue that baffles everyone into an uncomfortable silence. Another young man, Dudley (Salvatore Cacciato), pleads over the phone with an estranged girlfriend, although he comes on to another woman he dials by mistake.
A shred of plot, involving a plainclothes cop (Christopher Burns) who covers the waterfront with sadistic anger, helps to boil an exciting climax, but is hardly necessary. Director Paul Mullins, an accomplished actor himself, knows what he’s got here—a bounty of showcase parts to let his actors stretch and run.
Weems, an audience favorite here playing both dramatic (the title role in “King John”) and comic (“Rhinoceros” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”), puts another notch on his belt as the perplexing Joe. Resisting the urge to overplay his character as an idle-rich boozehound (think Dudley Moore in “Arthur”), Joe’s guilt is easier to understand, even though we have to wait for him to reveal his motives. Weems lets Joe slide through the day, finding joy in whatever comes up.
Gomez also shines as Kitty, whose profound sadness is broken by the occasional giggle. Burns is appropriately menacing as the cop, while Noyes is a delight as Tom, a simple-minded, buck-toothed errand boy who’s got it bad for Kitty. Hackler is another joy, dancing his way through every scene and delivering his abstractly awful jokes with the confidence of Henny Youngman at the Copa.
Even the non-Equity company grabs its share of moments, including Cacciato as Dudley, a truly unlikely lady’s man, and John Nahigian as a surprisingly philosophical longshoreman.
The final bow is reserved for Edmond Genest as Kit Carson, a grizzled old prospector with more tall tales than Grandpa Simpson. Genest is a familiar face here, most often playing upper-crust gentlemen, but chews the scenery here, grinning through a scraggly beard like Gabby Hayes. Genest had the audience in stitches, but ends the play with a final, dramatic moment.
Somewhat dated at this stage, “The Time of Your Life” may not demand to be seen, but this production sure does.