Gone Wilde

Wednesday night I saw friend Rob Urbinati's cheeky and clever new play West Moon Street, based on Oscar Wilde's "Lord Arthur Savile's Crime." Rob has deftly channeled Wilde's style in this comic mystery, in which young Arthur takes a fortune teller's prognostications much too seriously. The prediction? That Arthur--engaged to be married to Sybil--will commit a murder before he is married. Arthur immediately plans to complete his "duty" ASAP--even if it means postponing the wedding (much to his intended's dismay).

In typical Wilde-an form, this play deals in high-brow literary wit, frothy personalities, and mock-serious catastrophes. Under Davis McCallum's expert direction, the excellent cast turns in precise and crackling performances. I was particularly thrilled to see actor Glenn Peters earn huge and well-deserved laughs as Arthur's snappish aunt, Lady Clem. I reviewed Peters in last year's Murdering Marlowe (in which he played the churlish title role), and it was a treat to see him dressed as a woman and delivering comic barbs with verbal dexterity. Lady Clem is Queen of the Malapropism here, clumsily substituting "circumcise" for "circumspect."

The play (produced by the promising Prospect Theater Company) has received accolades from the press--even the Times, which essentially elevated Rob to uber-Wilde status. It will likely be published in the coming months and will hopefully find a happy, healthy life in regional theater.

Designer Naomi Wolff (not to be confused with the brilliant feminist writer) has created a veritable little girl's dream trunk full of gorgeous costumes. In particular, the dresses for Lady Windemere (played with starched venomous glee by Judith Hawking) are absolutely sensational--saturated with color and oozing with Wild-ean excess. I hope they are able to put them to good use after the play has closed! I'll be keeping an eye out at costume parties come October ...

My favorite line: "The world is a stage, and the play is badly cast."