On Theater: 'Violet' wilts on Costa Mesa stage

Oct. 21, 2019 12:26 PM PT

With some strong performances and resonant vocal quality, the musical “Violet,” now in residence at the Costa Mesa Playhouse, should be far more enjoyable than it actually is.

The reason for the show’s strange inaccessibility lies with its creators, Jeanine Tesori (music) and Brian Crawley (lyrics), who have taken Doris Betts’ short story “The Ugliest Pilgrim” on a circuitous journey to enlightenment.

This journey, via a Greyhound bus in 1964, is characterized by a number of stops and starts, a bumpy road that director Jason Holland’s Costa Mesa production is obliged to retrace.

Its title character is a young, untutored North Carolina woman whose face has been disfigured in a girlhood “hatchet encounter,” though the scars of that incident must be imagined since no gruesome makeup has been designed, a move that the program takes pains to explain.

Melissa Musial delivers a fine, heart-rending performance as Violet, who is traveling to Oklahoma to ask a charismatic faith healer to alter her appearance. Her transition from country bumpkin to fully-developed woman is credibly accomplished.

Along the way she encounters a couple of soldiers: Monty (Hunter Berecochea), a white corporal in the 101st Airborne Division, and Flick (Justin Crawford), a black sergeant apparently assigned to no unit since he wears no shoulder insignia.

Their importance to her, and to the story, expands as the show progresses.

Both actors display powerful singing voices with Crawford’s “Let It Sing” solo at the top of the heap. Berecochea counters with a tender message to Violet with “You’re Different” and “Lay Down Your Head.”

When Violet finally reaches Tulsa, she finds the slick televangelist (the excellent Wade Woolridge) who scorns her, because she poses no profit opportunity.

Interspersed between Violet’s escapades are flashbacks detailing her trying relationship with her father. Johnny Fletcher is splendid in the latter role while Elizabeth “Ellie” Smallwood is captivating as a forceful reminiscence of Vi’s girlhood self.

The musical score, under the direction of Cynthia McGarity, pervades the action and strives to lend credence to the characters. Michael Serna’s unit setting provides an effective backdrop.

“Violet” makes a strong case for tolerance and understanding but its structure proves ultimately unsatisfying. They’re trying, and nearly succeeding, to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear at the Costa Mesa Playhouse.