STAGE REVIEW : ‘OLDTIMERS GAME’ NEEDS MORE HITS

Henry Fonda would have been terrific as Old John Law, the ancient pitcher suiting up for the last time in Lee Blessings’ “Oldtimers Game,” now at the International City Theatre in Long Beach.

Old John is a Hall of Famer, and the results of this game won’t change his lifetime stats by one percentage point. He has no idea why he agreed to pitch three exhibition innings for his old minor-league club, the Otters. Vanity, probably.

Well, he pays for it. His visit also reminds him that, much as he loves baseball, he never could stand baseball players. But before he goes home, he does a conceited young slugger one hell of a favor.

Nice play. Funny play. I once heard it read at a playwrights’ lab in Minnesota, and the actors were laughing so hard they couldn’t get their lines out. Ball players really are outrageous: as full of it as actors.

“Oldtimers Game” isn’t anywhere near that vivid at Long Beach. (The International City Theatre is an Equity Waiver operation on the campus of Long Beach City College.) Designer Michael Devine has given the Otters a convincingly beat-up dressing room, but what goes on in it isn’t particularly convincing.

The money in this play isn’t the lines, but the behavior. High-fives and macho swagger are only the start of it. We also need to feel that these guys are getting ready to go out there and give a performance--particularly with a new owner looking them over today.

The clubhouse isn’t just where athletes goof off. It’s where they report to work. Some nervousness goes with that. So it’s necessary to have a routine. It matters where things are kept; who will get which locker as the old guys suit up; what kind of care is taken of equipment.

Unspoken stuff, but it spells the difference between an observed production and a generalized one. (As with the crowd noise behind the action here, the same before the game as during it.) Director David Herman gives us people in baseball suits, but not ball players. The drill isn’t there.

Oddly, the fullest performance comes from the one actor who doesn’t don a uniform. David Watkins makes the club’s new owner a windbag who just might mean it when he promises to go the extra mile for the player who will do the same for him--we’re as intrigued with him as his players are.

Wayne Richards is sufficiently dour and stubbled as Old John, but he’s a mite too commonplace. Old John is, in fact, your average misanthrope, but we should feel the legend before we know the man. This can be achieved without imitating Henry Fonda.

Nobody in the supporting cast goes without a hit. Gary Bolen, for instance, is amusing as an Otter alumnus who claims to have played in an All Star game back in the 50s--nobody can absolutely disprove him. Tommy Ford has humor and good physical presence as a more current star.

But there are also miscues. Loren Farmer inclines too much to farce as the team’s manager: You’d think this was “Nine Men on a Horse.” French Stewart misses the opportunistic side of the team’s broadcaster, and Andy Rivas needs a smarter mouth as the shortstop.

David Taylor is OK as the self-struck young slugger who doesn’t even know where the Otters are in the league standings, but there’s more fun in the role than Taylor can get at. Mark Daneri is a bit scattered as the team’s catcher, but he does manage to hit the wastebasket with every beer can, which shows that he can bear down.

“Oldtimers Game” has its innings, particularly when the guys are busting up the clubhouse, but some infield practice wouldn’t hurt.

‘OLDTIMERS GAME’ Lee Blessings’ comedy, at the International City Theatre, Long Beach City College. Director David Herman. Producer Shashin Desai. Set Michael Devine. Costumes Karen J. Weller. Lighting Paulie Jenkins. Sound Gary Christensen. Makeup Barbara Matthews. With Loren Farmer, David Taylor, Andy Rivas, Mark Daneri, French Stewart, Wayne Richards, Gary Bolen, David Watkins, Tommy Ford. Plays at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sundays. Closes June 14. Tickets $6-$8. 4901 E. Carson St., Long Beach. (213) 420-4275.