Malibu Stage Company artistic director Richard Johnson heads the cast of this Arthur Miller production.
By Michael Aushenker / Special to The Malibu Times
Director Isabelle Mejias Fox’s staging of the Arthur Miller play, “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan,” continues to reflect the good taste in material of Malibu Stage Company artistic director Richard Johnson. And, in this particular case, the production also stars Johnson, a seasoned actor, in the lead role of insurance agent Lyman Felt.
Running on weekends through Oct. 16, “Ride Down Mt. Morgan” deals with the fallout of an exposed love triangle after Cornell University-educated businessman Felt has crashed a sports car and landed himself in the emergency room of Clearhaven Memorial Hospital in Elmira, New York.
Felt’s wife, Theodora (Nathalie Blossom), and daughter, Leah (Olga Konstantulakis), show up at his beside, as does his other wife, Bessie Felt (Tiffany Towers). That’s when the problems begin as it is revealed to his college sweetheart Theodora that Lyman has secretly been married to young Jewish sexpot Bess for the last nine years and has sired a son with her. The wives come to grips with the existence of each other, and with the fact that the love they had each experienced with Lyman has been a years-long lie.
All the while, the bed-ridden Lyman defends his actions: he views his bigamy as living an honest life free of hypocrisy.
“If it’s not embarrassing, it’s not the truth!” Lyman says at one point during the storyline. (You can count on this play delivering plenty of embarrassment.)
The fact is Lyman has, in the process, lied to both women, as he led Theodora to believe that his monthly absences were work-related (starting a new office in Elmira) and the divorce papers he promised Bess to serve Theodora never reached her.
Miller’s 1991 play is not one of his most famous works, yet the writing and the themes here are quite potent. Through the bigamist lead character, issues of monogamy, societal hypocrisy and man’s natural human behavior are explored and articulated.
“I want one woman for the rest of my life,” Lyman tells his advisor, the merrily monogamous Tom Wilson (Brian Pietro), “and I can’t quite see Theodora.”
“I think you’ve done these women terrible harm!” Wilson tells Lyman, who counters, “If I haven’t deceived [Theodora], she wouldn’t have all of this.”
Sifting through the marital detritus and familial damage, Blossom and Konstantulakis are rock solid as the angry, disillusioned mother and daughter. Blossom, specifically, steals the play with her emotional, multidimensional portrayal of the anguished wife. Johnson plays a believable Lyman, caught in the maw of a mid-life crisis. Towers delivers the right mix of youth and sexiness peeled away by a maturing view of relationships, and Pietro, as Lyman’s lawyer, brings this supporting role to life. The capable Leslie Thurston has a very small role as Lyman’s nurse, Logan.
Produced by Diane Peterson, “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan” has solid technical credentials, with photo slides helping to transform characters in flashback. Diane Hertz created the sparse yet effective stage design and Lori Armstrong costumed the characters. Ralph Romo did set construction while Jamie Van Soelen ran the lighting and Terence Davis composed the original music.
Truth be told, there were a few noticeable opening weekend dialogue stumbles during this performance. However, in the case of this truth, it’s not at all that embarrassing because the actors are charismatic in their roles and Miller’s words are so impressive. For anyone seeking a good drama on the complexities of relationships and human behavior, “Mt. Morgan” is a must see.
More information and tickets can be obtained online at www.malibustagecompany.org