Dancing Around the Issue

Belly up to the barre, boys and girls; today’s drink special is a sudsy little cocktail by the name of “Missing Footage.” Gen LeRoy’s play, all about the plight of a brilliant but unstable ballerina and her various hangers-on, opened over the weekend at the Old Globe Theatre’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage.

It’s pure tosh, but fans of the old-fashioned cat fight may appreciate the hair-pulling, cane-swinging grudge match erupting late in Act 2 between two of the dancer’s friends. Not since Arthur Laurents wrote “The Turning Point” has anyone applied so much lather, laced with so many strands of pulled hair, to the perils of the dance world.

LeRoy clearly loves this world, its dramatic and light-comic possibilities. But her play--directed in its West Coast premiere by her husband, Tony Walton, best known for his effortlessly stylish work as a scenic designer--ends up an odd mixture of decorous drawing-room comedy and “gritty” soap opera.

It begins with Julianna Ricci (Tanya Gingerich) en pointe at a makeshift barre, set up in the cozy English provincial cottage owned by her No. 1 fan, Lynn Drew (Rosina Reynolds). The great Italian star is recovering from a nervous breakdown, but determined to shine again. Her suspiciously competitive childhood friend, Marcia Etthridge (Tracy Shayne), drops in toting a video camera, in order to complete her documentary on Ricci’s career. Marcia’s a compendium of Los Angeles neuroses and ambition. Can’t trust her for a minute. Prime cat fight material.

Before the fight itself, though, Julianna has other visitors to receive. Her former partner Anton Mate (Rob Sedgwick, master of the rolled R’s) is a Nureyev-styled charmer, just in from Monte Carlo. Jack Benneton (Jack Ryland), head of the ballet company formerly employing Julianna, pops in as well.

Marcia brokers a movie role for Julianna, all the better to get her back in the spotlight--and to help peddle her own unfinished documentary. But what’s best for Julianna? Round and round the petty infighting goes, and it stops only with a confrontation between Marcia and Lynn, dueling obsessive fans, struggling for the very soul of their idol.

“Missing Footage” gets a flattering production from director Walton. The Old Globe’s smaller indoor theater here has been reconfigured as a three-sided thrust stage. The cast dives headlong into the froth. Gingerich, a former New York City Ballet dancer, adds perhaps a dash too much petulance to an already petulant character, but she’s charismatic (and gorgeous) enough to take your mind off the cliches. Sedgwick’s the clear audience favorite; he freshens up playwright LeRoy’s generic way with the stock role of the Gay Best Friend.

It’s the kind of play in which everyone’s going on about the trials of “maverick” artists. LeRoy has a nice way with arch chatter, and some of the small talk is diverting. Everything on the beam, though--everything in “Missing Footage” designed to tell the central story, and make sympathetic the travails of its stormy protagonist--lands on flat feet.

* “Missing Footage,” Old Globe Theatre, Cassius Carter Centre Stage, Balboa Park, San Diego. Tuesdays-Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 2 and 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 and 7 p.m. Ends Aug. 28. $23-$39. (619) 239-2255. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

Tanya Gingerich: Julianna Ricci

Rosina Reynolds: Lynn Drew

Tracy Shayne: Marcia Etthridge

Jack Ryland: Jack Benneton

Rob Sedgwick: Anton Mate

Written by Gen LeRoy. Directed by Tony Walton. Set by Klara Zieglerova. Costumes by Willa Kim. Lighting by Brian Nason. Sound by Jeff Ladman. Stage manager Raul Moncada.