Moonlight & Magnolias: Frankly, My Dear, You Should Give a Damn!

A Hoot of a Hit at The Grange

— a review by Tom Fiscus —

Photo: Chris Thomerson

Moonlight and Magnolias, the latest offering now playing at the Actor’s Theater of Orcas Island, is billed as a comedy and it should be. The play, set in 1930s Hollywood, is filled with comedic send ups that had the Grange audience rolling with laughter. The humor comes so fast and furious that occasionally I missed a great gag because I was still laughing at the previous one.

The exquisite timing of the wonderful ensemble cast, directed by Doug Bechtel, brings this telling of the creation of the script for Selznick’s masterpiece film, Gone With the Wind, to hilarious life.

Ron Herman, as tortured movie producer David O. Selznick impels his screen writer and director through a marathon week to create the Gone With the Wind script and does a side-splitting impersonation of Scarlett O’Hara in the process.

John Mazzarella shines as the brilliant screenwriter Ben Hecht, who is seemingly the only person in 1930s America who has not read the Margaret Mitchell epic.

Tony Lee as the savvy director Victor Fleming finds himself acting out the scenes he will later direct, including a glorious rendition of the dawdling maid Prissy.

Gillian Smith is a wonder as Selznick’s impossibly patient secretary, Ms. Popenguhl, and appears to have been transported straight to the play’s set from the 1930s.

It would be good enough if the fun was the entirety of this production, but that would be to sell short the importance of the social and political issues embedded in the play. War in Europe was on the horizon, while the horror and losses of the Civil War were not yet that far distant. Selznick’s drive to avoid the same fate as his famously bankrupt father is made all the more poignant by his belief that the movie business itself appears to be headed for a fall.

Hecht demonstrates with a kind of sad cleverness that religious and ethnic prejudices still undergird a cosmetically false surface equality in 1930s America. The veteran cast presents all these issues and more with an unerring eye. From the dynamics of Selznick’s complex competitive relationship with his father-in-law, Louis B. Mayer, to Hecht’s realization that he has tacitly accepted the discrimination faced by Jews living in America, to Fleming’s terror of failing and having to return to his roots as a chauffeur, we find ourselves caring about and pulling for each of them.

Likewise, the production itself is a work of art. Theme music from the great Selznick films plays in the background. The authentic-looking set with its framed billboard movie posters, period furniture and accurate costuming add to the sense that we are present in Selznick’s studio office as participants in the literally “slapstick” creation of the script.

Go for the fun and the historical perspective, but you’ll marvel at the performances of this remarkable cast.

Moonlight And Magnolias continues at the Grange tonight with additional performances on February, 28, March 1, 7, 8 and closing night on Sunday, March 9. Performances are at 7:30. Tickets are $10 and are available at Darvill’s, on-line, or at the door.

Some language may not be suitable for younger children. For additional information, contact Doug Bechtel at 317-5601. Allergy Warning: Peanuts are used in the production.