An Adrenaline-Charged and Gleeful ‘Virginia Woolf’

In the 40 years since it was first produced, Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” has carved itself so indelibly into the minds of American theatergoers that it can easily fall victim to familiarity.

From the braying sonorities of Mike Nichols’ 1966 film, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, to those countless acting classes where it is standard fare, Albee’s dialogue has become so well known that it can verge on camp. Even Albee, whose own 1989 staging of the play at the Doolittle Theatre starred John Lithgow and Glenda Jackson, couldn’t break free of that sheer predictability.

But just when you thought you never wanted to sit through Albee’s three-hour-plus play again, along comes a production at the Blank Theatre in Hollywood that vividly reminds you just how brilliant the drama was, is and shall forever remain--given the right combination of circumstances.

In the Blank outing--a reprise of a recent San Diego Repertory production--that circumstantial combination is perfection, a wry, witty and gripping rendition featuring a dream cast, impeccable technical elements and Todd Salovey’s subtly revisionist staging, which reinvents and reinterprets the play’s timeworn cadences without altering a word of text.

Real-life husband and wife Mike Genovese and Ellen Crawford (perhaps most familiar as nurse Lydia Wright on the series “ER”) play, respectively, George, a disappointed history professor, and Martha, his harridan missis, who never misses an opportunity to publicly humiliate her spouse.

Peter Friedrich and the wrenchingly funny Ginger Williams ably round out the cast as Nick and Honey, the new professor and his wife, whom George and Martha invite over for an evening of drinks and “get the guest.”

Nick and Honey are the fools and foils who galvanize the action, but the meat of the evening is, of course, George and Martha’s twisted marriage, a clash between two worthy adversaries locked in a battle till death-do-they-part.

Never lapsing into caricature, Genovese and Crawford keep capital F-U-N in their marital dysfunction. Underneath George and Martha’s weary cynicism lies the giggling excitement of adolescents pledged to a fatal game of chicken. Their verbal jabs are gleeful, adrenaline-charged and surgically precise. Giulio Cesare Perrone’s sterile, off-white set is the perfect operating theater for their ongoing evisceration, a cutting-edge procedure that still fascinates and repels.

F. Kathleen Foley

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Sept. 22. $25. (323) 661-9827. Running time: 3 hours, 35 minutes.

Missed Opportunities

Mar Amusing ‘Reunion’

Tracing the course of characters’ lives through three successive 10-year high school alumni gatherings, “Reunion,” from Chautauqua Theatre Alliance, delivers plentiful laughs and some touching moments along the way. Ultimately, however, the piece amounts to little more than overextended sketch comedy, falling short of the potential in its ripe premise.

The frighteningly familiar assortment of oddballs, goof-offs, wannabes and losers assembled each decade in the Sweeney High School gym are the creations of the 10-member cast. Each actor plays multiple roles, creating the sense of a crowd, even though only two or three are usually onstage at any given time for the quick episodic exchanges that make up the show’s structure.

Some of these characterizations are merely quirky exaggerations, but the most effective ones also strike a note of poignant authenticity amid their idiosyncrasies. Standouts include a gay man adjusting to his sexual identity and the surly event organizer (co-directors Michael Caldwell and Rachel Winfree); a desperately cheery chatterbox cheerleader and her morose identical twin (both played by Victoria Delaney); the football star (Stefan Umstead) who crashes back to earth when an injury cuts short his pro career; the aspiring actress (Christina Welsh) whose Broadway dream eludes her; the painfully awkward wallflower (Irene White) who tries in vain to dispel rumors that she died; the leather-jacketed tough (Damon Shalit) with feet of clay; and a crabby spinster (Cindy Benson, filling in for Denise Moses). Tom Bottelsen turns in particularly memorable portrayals of a clueless nerd and an alcoholic financier trying to figure out where his life went wrong.

Although the characters’ circumstances evolve between their 1986, 1996 and 2006 reunions, the performances give little sense of physical aging. Other than period music, opportunities to tie in historical context are largely ignored.

While the ensemble creates generally engaging narrative arcs for the characters, the “scripting by committee” approach lacks the focus and direction of a true playwright’s vision. The piece plays like a performers’ showcase, with an obligatory need to cycle through people, regardless of whether they’re worth spending time with--not unlike an actual high school reunion, but here the hyperrealism has no aesthetic payoff.

Philip Brandes

“Reunion,” Egyptian Arena Theatre, 1625 N. Las Palmas Ave., Hollywood. Fridays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m. Ends Sept. 22. $18. (323) 960-8865. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.