HILLARY AND MONICA

If you’re looking for an easy evening with lots of laughs, in a very comfortable local L.A. theatre, this is the show for you.  And it’s a really short one, too, which is just the way I like my plays.

Rick Pasqualone and Barry Pearl. Photo by Ed Krieger.

But if, (like my friend Joanne and I did,) you think Hillary and Monica is about Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, (because of its title–duh,) you’ll be incorrect.  It’s actually about a New York playwriting duo who are trying to write a play about those two women.  It’s not like we find-out if they really met in real life, or what they said to each other if they did.  (The tagline is cute, but misleading.  It reads: “A comedy about blown opportunities,” accent on the “blown.”)

But, no matter; it’s the journey that we’re here for.  And that is an entertaining one. And, with Hillary Clinton running for President now, it can be construed as a sort-of timely topic.

This play at the Odyssey Theater in West L.A. has several industry heavyweights behind it, many of whom I was happy to discover I have a Brooklyn connection with.  It was written by the team of Victor Bardack and Edward Michael Bell, and directed by Joel Zwick.  Those last two grew-up near me in Brooklyn, though many years before.  Still, it’s a shared experience that only we natives can understand.  Joel and I were even both in the Theatre Department at my beloved first college, Brooklyn College. (Yes—I did attend multiple institutes of higher education—four, to be exact. But Brooklyn was my first. You never forget your first, right?)

Rick Pasqualone, Barry Pearl, and Phil Morris. Photo by Ed Krieger.

Speaking of quartets, Hillary and Monica features a cast of four, three of whom are good.  The best one is the star, Barry Pearl.  I guess that’s why he’s the star.  He does overplay it just a bit, but that’s what gives the show its energy.  He made me laugh with all the character’s old movie knowledge.  I’ve seen most of the ones he mentions, and I think in terms of them all the time, as well.

Also in the cast is handsome Phil Morris.  Even though he has worked extensively forever, (when I researched him for this review, I was shocked by just how prolific he’s been through the years,) I hadn’t seen him since his inane storyline on The Young and The Restless very many years ago, (the only soap opera I ever watched, no matter how briefly,) when his character was a black man successfully posing as a white man, for what reason, I can’t remember, (if I even ever knew.)  They made him up like the Wayans Brothers in White Chicks.  I felt so bad for him then.  So, it was a pleasure to see his real handsome face in this play.  (And, it’s made even better by the fact that he looks at least fifteen years younger than he actually is!)

I hate saying this, because I’m so into “Girl Power,” but the only weak performance was by the lone female, Rena Strober.  Her acting is just not up to snuff. (From her program bio, it appears she’s more of a singer than an actress, so that might explain it.)

Rena Strober and Barry Pearl. Photo by Ed Krieger.

And her casting is strange, otherwise, as well, because she’s so much younger than her love interest in the show, (the aforementioned Barry Pearl,) that it’s a little weird. They look more like a father-daughter than boyfriend-girlfriend, even though that’s not part of the story at all. Actually, none of the ages are well-synched. It appears that four different decades are represented by the cast, which I always applaud, but it’s written as to make it seem like the characters are supposed to be contemporaries, which makes it a tad distracting. (I pride myself on having good friends who are every age, from their twenties to eighties, so I love that variety, but it just doesn’t look right in this play.)

But the opening night audience didn’t seem to mind any of it. They were yukking it up heartily throughout. And any play that provides laughs in these stressful times is alright in my book. Just don’t be hungry when you go to see it because they mention food every few minutes! Or at least grab a snack from the well-stocked lobby bar before you go in. Or better yet, BYOB. (Bring your own bagel!) You’ll be glad you did.

Hillary and Monica running through June 12, 2016
Odyssey Theatre 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. WLA 323-960-7735 www.odysseytheatre.com