![\"(L-R)](\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/2C5A0221.jpg\")
<\/a>(L-R) Lana Parrilla, Carlos Gomez, and Isabella Gomez. Photo by Jeff Lorch, as is the one at the top of this review.<\/p><\/div>\n
But let me tell you this\u2014it would really help with the enjoyment of\u00a0One of the Good Ones<\/em>\u00a0to know Spanish. Both my friend Jan and I felt left-out whenever the characters spoke it fluently, followed by hearty laughter from most of the sold-out and very appreciative Opening Night audience! It made me wish I had retained more Spanish than \u201cmuchas ropas,\u201d (said disparagingly by someone about my massive wardrobe,) and \u201cmuy joven,\u201d (said\u00a0scoldingly\u00a0about most of my guy friends in my clubbing days.)\u00a0 So I suggest that you at least\u00a0try<\/em>\u00a0to see this comedy with a Spanish-understanding pal, so they can explain those amusing lines to you.<\/p>\n But no worries if you have to go it alone\u2014the entire hour and a half play is\u00a0full of mirth, so it’s really of no consequence if you miss a sentence or two. And though it\u2019s about a Latin-American twenty-something introducing her boyfriend to her Cuban father and Mexican-Puerto Rican mother, the story is pretty universal. \u201cMeeting the parents\u201d is always a good premise for comedy, and, although the show does get a bit too preachy at times, it works mostly wonderfully in\u00a0One of the Good Ones<\/em>.<\/p>\n My friend, (who’s been a casting director for decades, so she’s seen it all by now,) and I didn’t laugh as much as the majority of the audience members did, but we both still found it\u00a0entertaining, especially once the main quartet of actors were on stage together.<\/p>\n Surprisingly for me,\u00a0(who doesn’t watch much TV outside of sports,)\u00a0I was already familiar with three of the five actors. I’m probably the only person who watched, (and enjoyed,) the 2018 TV series,\u00a0The Baker and the Beauty<\/em>, on which Carlos\u00a0G\u00f3mez\u00a0played the baker’s father, so I already knew who he was. And I\u00a0 (L-R) Carlos Gomez, Nico Greetham, Isabella Gomez, and Lana Parrilla. Photo by Jeff Lorch.<\/p><\/div>\n Even though the entire cast does the script proud,\u00a0I must admit that\u00a0I didn’t really connect with\u00a0the two females, Ms. Parrilla and Isabella Gomez,\u00a0who plays the daughter.\u00a0Jan and I both thought the show came to life when Carlos, as the husband and father, came on. And then\u00a0it\u00a0picked-up again after that family discourse\u00a0became\u00a0enough already, (how much can an audience hear about menopause and watch a woman dab her armpits with a tissue?,)\u00a0and Nico entered as the daughter’s\u00a0boyfriend. He’s\u00a0unexpectedly (for me) very funny.<\/p>\n As usual for the productions at the revered Tony Award-winning Pasadena Playhouse, I’m recommending\u00a0One of the Good Ones<\/em>. Even if you live elsewhere, I have a feeling that this play will be around everywhere<\/em> for many years to come. (So you people around the country have time to learn some Spanish now!)<\/p>\n The Tanya Orellana-designed set, which is the living room of the family’s upscale home in\u2014where else?\u2014Pasadena, is almost perfect. I wish that\u00a0I\u00a0lived there! The only drawback of the design is the electronic fireplace that takes up a big space in the center of the stage. When the father says he\u2019s turning it on, you could not see it working from the back of the theatre. So we didn\u2019t even know that\u2019s what it\u2019s supposed to be.<\/p>\n The set. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n It\u2019s always good when a play gives audience members interesting flashbacks to episodes from their own lives, as this one did for me, and I’m sure for everyone<\/em> who sees it. My closest one to the action of\u00a0One of the Good Ones<\/em>\u00a0is that, back in the day, I had a boyfriend outside of my ethnicity for a few years. While I’m Jewish, my bae was black, and even though this was in the dark ages, when bi-racial couples were frowned upon in America, no one from either family objected, not even at the beginning. We were both taught that you accept people for who they are, and our fams loved the others’ paramour. So I had a bit of\u00a0the\u00a0opposite\u00a0<\/em>experience\u00a0to the one portrayed in this show.<\/p>\n Also, I can tell you that, while totally played for laughs here, the language issue is real. I was educated about that many years ago through my friendship with French Olympic medalist Philippe Candeloro. We were hanging-out at one of my clubs one night, and none of my gang spoke French, so he had to just go along with our<\/em> feeble attempts at Fran\u00e7ais and his<\/em> okay English. But then, we stopped into a French cafe as it was closing, and after getting to speak his native language with the staff for an hour or so, Philippe was all refreshed. It was such a lesson to me; people need to communicate in their\u00a0mother tongue\u00a0as often as possible; it’s good for their souls. I actually brushed-up on my French for a while to make his trips here as easy as possible for him. (Now I need to do the same for Spanish!)<\/p>\n Even if One of the Good Ones<\/em> doesn\u2019t make you<\/em> hark back, as it did for me<\/em>, I think that everyone will enjoy it. It\u2019s well-written and performed, and only one ninety-minute act. It\u2019s also always fun to see people you may know from TV in person. It\u2019s just a very easy experience all the way round.<\/p>\n In addition to getting to see such a good play, we Opening Night-ers were treated to a really fun soiree when it was over. The\u00a0fete was held in two places on the premises. Half was on the Playhouse\u2019s happening patio, (festively decorated with pi\u00f1atas, which feature in the narrative.) If you preferred to have a seat, you could go inside the year-old adjacent restaurant, Bar Chelou, where most of the food was, along with the more creative beverages. While I<\/em> was having a love affair with their tiny crispy potato bites, the rest of the guests were very happy with the various pretty and generous cocktails.<\/p>\n A bit of the opening night party in the courtyard. Photo by Karen Salkin.<\/p><\/div>\n The only thing that\u00a0missed the mark\u00a0a tiny bit that\u00a0evening was the\u00a0party menu<\/em>. While the cheese and charcuterie were\u00a0classy, (and were accompanied by delicious little breads,)\u00a0it would have been really clever of them to\u00a0serve simply salad and enchiladas, (even mini passed ones,)\u00a0just\u00a0like\u00a0the family\u00a0in the play\u00a0did!<\/p>\n Still, as\u00a0Jan and I\u00a0walked across the street to the parking lot, and\u00a0looked back at all\u00a0the hubbub\u00a0in the courtyard,\u00a0with the music going, both of us declared that we were so grateful to have been a part of that fabulous event!<\/p>\n One of the Good Ones<\/em>\u00a0running through April 7, 2024<\/strong> ONE OF THE GOOD ONES This fun new play, (wisely commissioned by the Pasadena Playhouse, so it\u2019s the only place you\u2019ll see it for a while,) about a *Latine family, is\u00a0very humorous. *[Note: My research showed me that \u201cLatine\u201d seems to be the newly correct way to define people of Hispanic heritage, without assigning a<\/p>\nwasted<\/del>\u00a0spent two years of my life watching\u00a0Once Upon a Time<\/em>, waiting for something interesting to happen on it, so I knew Lana\u00a0Parrilla\u00a0from being the Evil Queen on that. But, most significantly, I have never missed even one second of\u00a0So You Think You Can Dance\u00a0<\/em>after the first season, so I knew Nico Greetham from being in the Top Ten on that show almost a decade ago. I love when a dancer is also a good actor. It’s so interesting to me\u00a0when people have multiple talents!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a>
\n Pasadena Playhouse 39 South El Molino Avenue, Pasadena<\/strong>
\n 626-356-7529\u00a0www.pasadenaplayhouse.org<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"