Theater Review: 'Born Yesterday' is a delight Theater Review: 'Born Yesterday' is a delight (January 21, 2004)

By Bryan Wiggin
Almanac Theater Critic

Palo Alto Players has begun the new year with a thoroughly enjoyable production of Garson Kanin's "Born Yesterday." In fact, the only bad news about it is that it ends too soon -- on February 1.

Set in Washington, D.C., in 1946, the comedy is about post-war profiteering. Self-made junk tycoon Harry Brock, born in Palinfield, New Jersey, wants to buy up all the scrap metal that lies about Europe in the wake of World War II.

To aid him in this nefarious enterprise, he has purchased the aid of Senator Norval Hedges. Their plan is to push through Congress a piece of legislation that will obviate any competition, thus giving Harry a no-bid contract.

Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

About the only thing holding Harry back -- for he is unconstrained by conscience or integrity -- is his girlfriend, Billie Dawn. She's been his paramour for nine years, and he admits to being nuts about her. But Billie is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, and her manners lack polish. (So do Harry's, but as a coarse man who's made a lot of money, he sees no flaw in himself.)

Harry hires Paul Verrall, a writer for The New Republic, to brighten up his dolly. But Billie's native intelligence and integrity are awakened by reading Tom Paine and others, and she no longer will blindly sign the documents that Ed Devery, Harry's lawyer, has been placing before her over the years, which have made her a partner in Harry's shenanigans.

Romance blossoms between Paul and Billie, and Harry is left with the bull-headed certainties of the self-made man.

All of the lead roles are well cast. The first act is largely Harry's, and Brian Buckley Smith makes him unrelentingly obnoxious. Bellicose, bellowing, belligerent, and boorish, he believes he knows everything about how the real world works, and that what he doesn't know, he can buy. We keep expecting him to soften into someone with a heart of gold, but he doesn't, and he shouldn't.

It's a tough and funny performance.

This play was made into a popular movie with Judy Holiday playing Billie Dawn, but local actress Shannon Stowe makes the part her own. Contentedly buffing her nails in Act I, in Act II she's become a questing intellectual -- though not without difficulty. The previous night, for example, she found herself thinking, and couldn't get to sleep for 10 whole minutes. Ms. Stowe has just the right Brooklynese accent and raspy voice to give comic counterpoint to the sex kitten who's found her higher self. It's a gem of a performance.

John Baldwin is smooth and worldly as Harry's lawyer, and John Watson has the crumbled dignity of a senator who has sold out and who regrets it less than he should. As his wife, Carolyn Ford Compton graciously endures the likes of Harry and Billie. Woody Taft is square with integrity as the journalist Paul, and Don DeMico is longsufferingly put upon as Harry's brother and minion, Eddie.

Director Mark Mezadourian has done a first-rate job, keeping the action lively and the exchanges crisp. He is well aided by the costumes of Colleen Troy Lewis, the scenic design of Ron Gasparinetti, and the lighting of Brian Jones.

This production of "Born Yesterday" received enthusiastic applause, and deserved it. Don't deny yourself the pleasure.

INFORMATION

"Born Yesterday," by Garson Kanin, is being presented by Palo Alto Players at the Lucie Stern Theatre in Palo Alto through February 1. For information, call 329-0891 or visit paplayers.org.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.