The Shadow Of Greatness
02 August 2000

Was it Freud who asked, "Theatergoers, what do they want?" Or David Merrick? There was a time, not so long ago, that the public couldn't get enough of chamber plays, be they comedies in the Noel Coward tradition or sons and daughters of thrillers like Agatha Christie's "Mousetrap." A more recent genre is a theatrical offshoot of what used to be known as "disease of the week" TV movies, in which a particular issue like cancer ("Wit") is dramatized, but explored with greater psychosocial implications. Neither genre pretends to be theater for the ages, but when done well they both justify their place in a theater company's season.

Two world premieres, one in each of the above genres, have made nicely piloted landings in the Berkshires. Neither is great theater in the literary sense, but "The Shadow Of Greatness," with Richard Chamberlain, is artfully entertaining, and "Full Bloom" is entertainingly political.

At the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, "The Shadow Of Greatness" feels like "The Man Who Came To Dinner" meets "Sleuth," and while it veers dizzyingly between those two seemingly disparate poles it maintains an equilibrium. Chamberlain is a slightly over-the-hill playwright whose oeuvre sounds as if it's along the lines of Coward's "Brief Encounter." Enter into his apartment, handsomely designed by Rob Odorisio, three diehard fans who have been accorded audiences with the down-on-his-fortunes great one, though each thinks he or she is the only invitee. Are they there for his amusement, theatrical fodder, or something more diabolical?

What does become clear is that the playwright, Gary Socol, is interested in exploring the darker recesses of today's celebrity culture. His biography is of more than passing interest in this regard. Socol has spent a good portion of his career perpetuating America's cult of the celebrity on E! Entertainment television, where he created "The Gossip Show" and produced "Talk Soup," "Mysteries & Scandals," and "Celebrity Profile." Is "The Shadow Of Greatness" atonement for his sins?

In the end, motivation matters little compared to what's onstage, and what's onstage is both witty and diverting. Socol is obviously a clever writer and a surprisingly skillful craftsman, given that this is his first full-length play. "The Shadow Of Greatness" might need a celebrity of Chamberlain's stature, and talent, to work as well as it does because we have to feel that the protagonist is in fact a celebrity. Chamberlain is superb as playwright Alan Perry.

His mischievous smile and wicked way with a turn of phrase make him a character who could lead us toward comedy or tragedy. As the two adoring female fans, Kellie Overbey and Jan Maxwell (who appeared as the countess with Chamberlain in "The Sound Of Music") compete for his attentions from opposite ends, Overbey with the ditziness of a naif and Maxwell with the self-assuredness of a woman who knows what she wants -the playwright between the sheets.

But Chamberlain means to teach them and the less successful Ross Gibby a lesson in the dangers of celebrity worship. They, in turn, end up wanting to teach him a lesson in dealing with the issues that shut him down to the point where teasing or torturing his fans is one of the few pleasures he has left. And this preachiness is where the play needs more work.

You might want to skip this paragraph if you're planning on seeing the play, because it might alert you to a twist or two that you'd rather experience for yourself. The lessons that Chamberlain teaches his fans are a little too basic in learning to live one's life without creating false idols, and the ones they try to teach him are altogether too touchy-feely for such a witty play. (Or any play, for that matter.) As an entertainment, "The Shadow Of Greatness" fills the bill. But to lift it to the real shadow of greatness, or at least the shadow of Broadway, Socol needs to sharpen the message.

© 2000 Ed Siegel