Becky’s New Car, from the pen of prolific playwright, Steven Dietz, has as many twists and turns as a lonely mountain highway. And the main character, winsome Becky (Jenn Robbins), would love to be traveling down that very road. Instead, she is the backbone of a suburban car dealership, going home every night to her solid husband, Joe (Grinnell Morris), and son, Chris (Riley Introcaso). Everything changes, however, when Walter (Christopher Franciosa), a lonely millionaire, comes to the dealership and orders a fleet of automobiles for his employees as a thank you gift. What might be a standard tale of a bored housewife finding excitement in how the other half lives, breaks out into a romp when Becky sneaks off to meet Walter at a high-level dinner party and encounters — more lonely people.
Playwright Dietz has a wonderful time, juxtaposing all of his characters’ separate issues to hilarious effect. The search for human connection runs through all of the proceedings, as Dietz juxtaposes the range of longing amid a peppering of clever bon mots. One of the most sympathetic of them is Becky’s fellow car salesman, Steve (John Combs), who serves as a sort of voice of reason amidst all the crazy, aforementioned twists and turns. As Ginger, Kristin Towers-Rowls, too, gains a lot of mileage as a fortune hunting, jilted siren. And Becky? Well, you’ll just have to see the play to find out!
As a veteran Theatre 40 watcher, I was especially thrilled to see Theatre 40’s standard set spruced up by set designer Jeff G. Rack for the occasion. Costumer Michael Mullen goes all out for the ritzy scenes, using plenty of “bling” as well as great, form-fitting, formal wear. But none of it would work as well, but for Judi Levin’s seamless hair/wigs/ and make-up!
Lastly, director Cate Caplin has a lot of fun with the play’s built-in asides to the audience as well as the inside jokes created as Becky’s cross-town place of employment is placed as close as her living room. Although Caplin does a good job of keeping the whole on track, Dietz’s play itself could benefit from pruning. That caveat, however, does not prevent this from being one of the funniest soul-searching comedies you’re likely to see.
Theatre Forty presents Becky’s New Car, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm (with an additional matinee at 2 pm on Saturday, June 14th) through June 15, 2025, at their Beverly Hills High School location; 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills 90212. All tickets are $35. For reservations, or subscription information, phone (310) 364-0535 or online at http://theatre40.org.
