Monday, March 06, 2000
'Wait Until Dark' thrills by the book
BY JACKIE DEMALINE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Downtown Theatre Classics closes its 1999-2000 season with established thriller Wait Until Dark. Since the only reason to see the show is to enjoy the squeals and yelps and nerves-induced laughs of the extended final scene, I'll report that it works just the way it's supposed to.
For anybody unfamiliar with the plot, made famous in its movie version by burn-into-your-memory performances by Audrey Hepburn as the blind heroine and Alan Arkin as her nemesis, it's about a very bad man let's call him Roat (Greg Procaccino) who will stop at nothing (and I do mean nothing) to get his hands on the valuable contents of a musical doll.
In Roat's way is blind Suzy (Regina Pugh). He creates an elaborate charade to get the doll from her, employing a couple of con men, we'll call them Mike (Mike Bizarri) and Carlino (Michael Bath) to help carry it out.
Dark has a long set-up, which involves Roat visiting and re-visiting Suzy's Greenwich Village-y digs (great design from Anton Shilov) showing off a variety of accents and disguises. It's big fun for an actor and Mr. Procaccino dives right into it.
The real work is Ms. Pugh's. She's the still-newleywed who has to keep faith that her photographer husband (Duffy Hudson, quickly removed from the scene) isn't involved with a murder; she's the feisty but vulnerable heroine who has to build suspense by slowly getting the feeling something is very, very wrong.
She's the one who has to suffer betrayal but keep her wits about her to use her handicap as her strength and her weapon. And ultimately she has to fight for her life by bringing Roat into her world of darkness and forcing him to play by her rules.
The more you care about Suzy and her relationships, the bigger the pay-off, the more funhouse bumps along the way leading to the big pay-off, which is going to pay off no matter what you do, so unerring is the script in its ability to push our buttons.
More than anything else, Suzy needs to be warm. Ms. Pugh plays her friendly, but that's not enough. She needs to pull us in and make sure we're invested in her. It's vital that there's a connection with bad guy Mike, but there's no chemistry between Ms. Pugh and Mr. Bizarri.
It's almost as vital that we get to enjoy the evolving relationship between Suzy and Gloria, the little girl upstairs, played by Rebecca Whatley (who is growing into a fine young actress). But that never plays genuinely, either.
Director Mark Mocahbee is less concerned with the logic of relationships than he is in getting the action right. The result is by-the-book performances, the kind that don't take us along for a thrill ride but leave us in our seats to ponder too many questions with bad answers, like:
Once Suzy ascertains that her husband is not involved, why doesn't she give the bad guys what they want and get out of peril? When she has the chance to escape in the dark, why doesn't she? All the times she's alone, why doesn't she just call 911? When she sends Gloria for help, why doesn't she ask her to bring the nearest beat cop or patrol car?
Dark's dark can't play without terrific lighting, here designed by Susan Terrano. Hats off, too, to fight director Drew Fracher.
Wait Until Dark, through March 19, Downtown Theatre Classics, Aronoff Center Jarson-Kaplan Theater. 241-7469.
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