Theater Reviews : Gangster Comedy Shoots Holes in Its Message

Carol Wolf, who wrote the ingenious, inventive one-man play, “Monsieur Shaherazad,” that premiered at Garden Grove’s Gem Theatre last year, has a new play running at the Tribune Theatre.

“Eddie & Molly’s Garden” is no “Shaherazad.” It’s a sort of hybrid satire-farce-sendup subtitled “A Gangster Comedy in Two Acts.” The play takes some very serious thoughts about today’s social ills, twists them ferociously and hopes for laughs. Most of them come from the performances, which manage to make the play look better than it really is.

Eddie is one of two gangsters who run the State of Old Jersey, which is between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Eddie runs the legislature, Julian runs industry. They accomplish this by rubbing out anyone who doesn’t fit in.

This includes recalcitrant politicos, school superintendents, publishers who reject Eddie’s love poems to his adored Molly, and even students who don’t study. The illiteracy rate in the state is, Eddie say, .002. “Wait,” he growls, “till I find those eight guys.”

These gangsters are out of Raymond Chandler, and that’s part of the sendup. Maybe their methods are what we need, is Wolf’s skewed message, her look at life through shattered glasses.

The big problem is that “Garden” often takes itself too seriously, forgetting that laughs are what get satire’s points over. The play could be cut into a long one-act without losing a thing except its humorless moments.

Wade Williamson has knowledgeably directed the properly driving rhythms that propel the play’s better moments but has been able to bring only a few in his cast under its comic spell. These few play the comedy sincerely without getting serious, with the intuitive faux-reality style that makes comedy work.

Christopher Corey Smith is a fine Eddie, issuing ludicrous orders out of the side of his mouth, with a restraint and lightness that not only brings Wolf’s writing to life, but also finds its most subtle humor.

His bumbling assistant Diggory, played by John Vorwald, is the comic delight of the evening. Vorwald (who alternates in the role with Mark Nielsen) has an innate sense of humor that finds everything Diggory does funny: his blankness, his stupefying naivete, his desperately forlorn life. Vorwald believes ardently in every moment, and that is what makes him funny.

Without giving away too much of the intricate plot, Mike Cunningham is also very good as Hinchely, the white-bread government agent who has fooled around with practically everyone in sight in order to infiltrate the state’s power structure.

His romancing of the fragile, lonely Diggory provide the evening’s funniest moments. Michael Hoctor, as Eddie’s treacherous partner, Julian, is also very funny and very strong--sometimes a little too strong--as the archetypal greedy mobster with a disastrous heart of gold.

The women in the cast do not fare as well.

Barbara Goodman’s squeaky Jersey piping and gum-chewing are a pointless stereotype. Though Marlena Schiff has a few very good moments, she hasn’t found a solid core to anchor her performance as Susan, Julian’s convent-raised daughter who has decided to leave the church and take over the operation.

Dawn Decker does the usual pants-hitching and smirking as Julian’s henchman Vic. Eddie’s Molly, who unknowingly has spent 20 years telling Eddie whom to erase, is an illogical, impossibly written role, a woman who is supposed to be an executive, but who is so opaque she never has made the connection between her suggestions and the pile of corpses. Amber Wagoner hasn’t been able to make Molly work any more than the playwright has.

“Eddie & Molly’s Garden,” Tribune Theatre, 116 1/2 Wilshire St., Fullerton. Fridays and Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends Sept. 11. $10. (714) 640-9161. Running time: 2 hours, 15 minutes. Christopher Corey: Smith Eddie

John Vorwald/Mark Nielsen: Diggory

Michael Hoctor: Julian

Mike Cunningham: Hinchely

Amber Wagoner: Molly

Marlena Schiff: Susan

Barbara Goodman: Flora

Dawn Decker: Vic

A Changing Masks Theatre Company presentation of Carol Wolf’s comedy. Directed by Wade Williamson. Produced by Mike Cunningham. Stage manager: Lisa Cindrich.