STAGE REVIEW : Long Wait for Payoff in ‘Next in Line’ at New Ivar

Strange but true: Ray Bradbury endorses “Next in Line,” a dramatization of one of his short stories, at the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood (now known as the New Ivar, on the program if not on the sign outside).

His Pandemonium Theatre Company is the producer. Bradbury himself welcomed the opening night audience with pre-curtain introductions of his two adapters and longtime friends, S. L. Stebel and Charles Rome Smith, and with post-curtain champagne.

Go figure.

“Next in Line” is the kind of adaptation that would inspire many authors to run in the opposite direction, swearing that never again will they allow anyone to mangle one of their stories. This one has been inflated in length, yet deflated in style and effectiveness.

We’re in a Mexican mountain town, on the Day of the Dead. Two tourists from north of the border, Marie (Nancy Dussault) and Joseph (Peter Mark Richman) Elliot, check into their hotel room.

Joseph is an extremely trying man. His condescension toward Mexico and toward his own wife knows no bounds. He constantly frets--out loud--about his health. He has no interest in experiencing Mexico; he’d rather read.

Although he supposedly plucked his wife out of a drab job in a bookstore and helped her become a writer, he is now intent on destroying her confidence. Marie literally pays for any little mistakes that affect their travel plans; Joseph accepts her fines but resents the fact that she has money of her own.

Oink, oink.

With Richman underlining every indication of his character’s male chauvinist porcine qualities, and with only one moment where the authors even mention Joseph’s past, this character is nothing but a parody. He should be the focal point of a comedy sketch, perhaps, but not a 2 1/2-hour play.

Indeed, Richman’s performance inspired a few titters, snickers and playful hisses on opening night. But it was tentative laughter--as if no one knew whether it was OK to laugh.

By contrast, Marie wants to explore, to make love, to do a hundred things that her husband vetoes. This is a reversal of roles from the original story, in which he was the adventurer and she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Feminism has made its mark on this tale.

Up to a point. Marie’s taste for adventure begins to dampen when she realizes how truly sick--in the mind--her husband is. Then, in a somewhat arbitrary change of mood at the beginning of Act 2, it’s suddenly Joseph who wants to go out and explore. He leads Marie into the local catacombs, where mummies are stored if the families of the dead can’t afford proper burials. Marie, afraid that this will make her husband even more of a hypochondriac, is now the one who holds back. The characterizations of the original story are temporarily restored.

It’s important not to give away the ending, for the last few minutes are the play’s highlight. It’s a different ending from the one in the short story, not so sly, yet perhaps more stage-worthy.

Nevertheless, it’s a long haul to get there, with most of the time spent making Joseph as distasteful as possible. A clever entertainment has been transformed into a sour marital drama, but the dialogue is much flatter than the Bradbury prose of the original, and the Elliots--not to mention the minor Mexican characters--remain utterly shallow.

Michael Shere’s production design includes some fairly spooky-looking mummies designed by Kevin Baratier, but the lighting doesn’t enhance the spookiness. During an earlier dream sequence, Shere tries for lighting effects that are clearly beyond his grasp. Likewise, his hotel room set looks awfully flimsy. A wire runs across its top, holding it together but shaking whenever a door is slammed.

Perhaps the real reason for Bradbury’s approval of this stage version is that it could cause bemused theatergoers to seek out his original story, which looks good by comparison. Yet most theatergoers probably won’t go to that effort; 2 1/2 hours with the Elliots is more than enough.

Rodney Rincon: Patron

Nancy Dussault: Marie Elliot

Peter Mark Richman: Joseph Elliot

Nathan Holland: Calderon/Vendor

Patrick Montes: Dr. Alvarez/Chef

Bert Rosario: Caretaker

By S. L. Stebel and Charles Rome Smith, based on a story by Ray Bradbury. Directed by Smith. Production design Michael Shere. Sound design Marilyn Donadt. Mummies design Kevin Baratier. Stage manager B. J. Allen.