From: Subject: REVIEWED: Born Yesterday The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre | Vital Source Magazine, Milwaukee WI Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 22:02:32 -0600 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0042_01C722F0.37949BD0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.3028 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0042_01C722F0.37949BD0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.vitalsourcemag.com/index.php/magazine/article/reviewed-born-yesterday/ REVIEWED: Born = Yesterday The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre | Vital Source Magazine, = Milwaukee WI

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REVIEWED: Born Yesterday

The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre

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by Russ Bickerstaff

Over the = years,=20 Milwaukee Rep resident acting company member Deborah Staples has played=20 sparkling intelligence in a variety of different packages. In Garson = Kanin=92s=20 Born Yesterday she=92s playing a bright, hidden intelligence that = makes for=20 a fascinating centerpiece to the mid-century political comedy. Staples = plays=20 former chorus girl Billie Dawn, a beautiful, young woman following = around=20 millionaire blowhard Harry Brock (Steve Pickering). Billie joins Harry = and the=20 rest of his entourage in Washington DC, where he is looking to bribe the = government into passing laws that will make his hugely profitable = business even=20 more profitable overseas.

Harry=92s lawyer (Tony DeBruno) has = suggested=20 that he be as pleasant and sociable as possible in his meeting with the=20 well-greased Senator Hedges and his wife (Jim Baker and Rose Pickering). = In an=20 effort to seem more human than animal, Harry includes Billie on the = social=20 meeting. The problem is that, whenever Billie speaks she seems = unsophisticated.=20 This prompts Harry to hire a journalist (John Phillips) to educate = Billie so=20 that she can be more presentable to the congressmen he=92s trying to = bribe.=20 Things, of course, get complicated and before long, Billie is falling = for the=20 journalist who is clearly falling for her as well. Billie begins to = realize what=20 kind of a sociopathic jerk Harry really is.

Steve Pickering = manages an=20 impressively pleasant performance as Harry. There=92s almost on operatic = quality=20 in the gravity of his slightly gravelly, percussive voice. He shouts = quite a=20 bit, but it comes across more as the music of drama than actual anger. = This=20 keeps the heavy bits of drama from ever completely weighing down the = comedy=20 while, at the same time, somehow managing a very credible, convincing=20 performance.

Staples=92 performance as Billie has a great deal = of texture=20 and nuance. Even delivering the comedy early in the play as a vacuous, = young=20 woman we see that there=92s more to her character than the script will = allow. In=20 subtle movements and glances, Staples foreshadows deeper elements that = will come=20 to the surface later on. When the journalist starts educating Billie, = Staples=20 performance goes beyond the =93dumb-girl-becomes-smart=94 clich=E9 to = render a=20 character who seems like a complete person. Staples has a great = chemistry with=20 Pickering that plays out its most fascinating elements when they = aren=92t even=20 sharing dialogue. The play features the two alone onstage almost = completely=20 silent as they play out a few hands of Gin Rummy. Though it occurs at a=20 relatively natural point in Kanin=92s script, it takes a tremendous = amount of=20 courage to stop everything onstage while the two principle characters = play cards=20 and Pickering and Staples make it work spectacularly. Even if you are = completely=20 unfamiliar with the rules, you know exactly what=92s going on without = them ever=20 having to explain it. It=92s amazing execution.

Kanin=92s script = doesn=92t=20 settle easily into one specific genre. The comedy here can be very light = and=20 lowbrow while in the midst of a plot that is very deep and serious. = It=92s a light=20 character comedy that also play out like a political comedy. With = relatively=20 simple characters, the story can also be read as a simple political = parable. At=20 the close of World War II, Big business (Harry) wants to forge a solid=20 partnership with government (Senator Hedges) to control it and make even = more=20 money. When the media (the journalist) educates the people of the United = States=20 (Billie) about what is going on, the country is given the option of = walking away=20 from it. The ending here isn=92t quite perfectly clear. We=92re still = waiting for a=20 resolution. We all are.

The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre=92s = production of=20 Born Yesterday runs now through December 31st at the Quadracci = Powerhouse=20 Theater in the Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex. Tickets range in = price and=20 can be purchased by calling the ticket office at 414-224-9490 or online = at http://www.milwaukeerep.com/. = VS=20

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