![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Garden-of-Alla-81.jpg\")
<\/a>Photo by Lorca Peress, of a previous production of the show.<\/p><\/div>\n
At only eighty-three minutes, the production is short. But it would be half that time if the actress-writer, Romy Nordlinger, would not stop at every period in the script! That’s Acting 101; no one talks like that in real life. She really needs to add in a comma every now and then.<\/p>\n
Still, I could tell that she\u2019s a good actress because, in character, she does a minute or two of a monologue from\u00a0The Cherry Orchard<\/em>\u00a0toward the end of\u00a0Garden of Alla<\/em>, and that one bit is excellent.<\/p>\n But otherwise, my friend Lou and I didn\u2019t know what she was talking about half the time. And Alla Nazimova grew up Jewish in Russia, then lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she learned to speak English in just six months before becoming a stage actress in New York. So we can’t understand why, instead of using that proper accent, even a modified-for-stage one, Romy portrays Alla as having some kind of \u201cAmerican-British socialite\u201d speech. It\u2019s a head-scratching (and annoying) choice.<\/p>\n Photo by David Wayne Fox, as is the one at the top of this review.<\/p><\/div>\n Nordlinger wrote the script herself, so perhaps Garden of Alla<\/em> would benefit from an outside eye helping to fix some of the issues with it. For example, the long section about her being born and growing up are super-confusing; Lou and I had no idea what was going on. At one point, she said that, as a child, she came home one day to find her mother gone, and then a minute or two later, she was saying something about her mother being at an event with her. We could not figure out what any of that is about.<\/p>\n But it does pick-up about halfway through, when Alla comes to America, although I would have liked to learn why and how she came here. (Perhaps those answers are in the narrative, but if that\u2019s the case, it\u2019s muddled; she needs to punch those lines up, since that journey is why anyone knows about Alla Nazimova to begin with.)<\/p>\n All that being said, there are several positives to this limited-run presentation. The best part of the entire production is the fabulous projections and videos by Adam Jesse Burns. And very cleverly, a long clip of one of Nazimova\u2019s silent films plays on the big-screen backdrop pre-show. So I suggest getting to your seats early to see that specialness.<\/p>\n The pre-show silent movie clips. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n I adored that, on opening night, all the theatre personnel were dressed in \u201820s-style fashions. There were many beautiful dresses, and all the females were rocking at least long pearls. The lobby display continued the theme. I always appreciate touches like that.\u00a0 It gets the audience in the right mood from the get-go.<\/p>\n Just receiving the invitation to Garden of Alla<\/em> inspired me to research Alla Nazimova, which I suggest you do before you see the show, as well. Her entire story is intriguing. I was shocked that I had never heard of her before, but when I saw the tagline for this play, \u201cThe most famous star you\u2019ve never heard of,\u201d I felt not so alone in my nescience.<\/p>\n The informative board in the lobby. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n Alla Nazimova was known not only as a movie and Broadway star, but the person who bought a giant estate on Sunset Boulevard at Crescent Heights in Los Angeles, and turned it into the historic \u201cGarden of Allah,\u201d first as her happening home and later as a historic hotel. So I appreciated hearing tales of that famous place in this play.<\/p>\n On a side note, I’m grateful that one of the very end images of Garden of Alla<\/em> cleared that location of the hotel up for me. I hadn’t realized that it had become a strip mall which I had been to many a time in recent years, for the drive-thru McDonald\u2019s and the bank. Mr. X and I drove past there the other day, and were shocked to discover that it had recently all been torn down. Again. Maybe they’ll build another beautiful hotel on the site now. Wouldn’t that<\/em> be nice!<\/p>\n The story of Alla Nazimova’s life is definitely one worth telling. And seeing! So all in all, if you\u2019d like an easy and interesting night out, Garden of Alla<\/em> will offer you that. And for your convenience, there are many eateries in the area, even one that appeared to also be a happening bar on the same block. And if you\u2019ve been wanting to use your flapper-era attire outside of the once-a-year-at-Halloween that you bring it out for, go for it. Just bring your fur coat, too, because the air-conditioning in that theatre is bone-chilling!<\/p>\n Garden of Alla: The Alla Nazimova Story<\/em>\u00a0running through July 23, 2023<\/strong> GARDEN OF ALLA: THE ALLA NAZIMOVA STORY I’m a big fan of Hollywood history. So the subject of this play at Theatre West\u20141920s Broadway and silent movie star Alla Nazimova\u2014is fascinating. But some of the execution of it, not so much. I rarely choose to see one-person shows, but Garden of Alla: The Alla Nazimova<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\n Theatre West\u00a0 3333 Cahuenga Blvd.<\/strong>
\n www.theatrewest.org<\/a>\u00a0 323-851-7977<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"