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Front Street
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Persons
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By T.H. McCULLOH
The time is early July, 1944. The second world war is winding down, and
the Barnum and Bailey circus is coming to Hartford, Connecticut. Americana,
especially when it tempers the lives of the immigrant DeLuna family, is
pervasive. The whole family is affected, from the hot-blooded parents to the
children, all of whom are really all-American kids. Well, at least two of
them are.
It happens on Front Street, in Anne Pié's family dramedy at the American
Renegade Theatre. The visit of the circus to Hartford is based on fact,
including the tragic fire that destroyed the circus on July 6 of that year.
The story of the DeLunas is crafted in the style of that form so looked down
upon in the past few decades, the "well-made" play.
It sometimes seems sad that there aren't more well-made plays around
today, linear and narrative as they may be. Like Front Street, they're
enjoyable and fulfilling. They argue no political agenda, and current events
are generally left to news broadcasts. Character and relationships are at the
core of the genre.
Front Street also harks back to many of those warm B-movies of the late
1930s. Warner Brothers in that day might have snatched this script up.
There's a role that would fit John Garfield to a tee, the son who's involved
in gambling, with tragic results, but really has a heart of 24-carat gold.
The immigrant parents, struggling to assimilate, are also Warner's cup of
tea, along with the daughter whose fiancé was not chosen by the father, as in
the old country.
Also typical of those films is the fact that the family members have their
own traumas to deal with during the span of the action. The mother Tonia (Jade
Hykush) with her loveless "arranged" marriage, daughter Angie's (Nicole
Mansour) typically American romance with a soldier just off to the war, son
Sonny (Don Persons) and his foolish toying at the edges of crime, and papa
Dominic (John LaMotta) and his old-world ideas and slovenly lifestyle. Even
young son Nicky (Travis Mitchell) has a trauma, having gotten tickets from
Sonny for the circus at the matinee when the tents go up in flames.
T.J. Castronovo's direction gives a fair idea of the tensions going on in
the script, but he unfortunately keeps everything on one note, particularly
uncomfortable in the very funny arguments between Mama and Papa, which look
pretty stereotypical without some more intricate shadings to make them
individual to this stereotypical couple.
The performances throughout are very good, especially Hykush's Tonia, who
knows when to be warm and when to be hot as the long-suffering mother.
Mansour's daughter is properly light and romantic, as is her fiancé Victor,
playing with openness and innocent likableness by Luke Moyer. Persons' Sonny
hits all the right anguished notes of a polio-crippled youth trying to fight
his way out of a drab life, and he's particularly effective in his scenes
with Sonny's kid brother Nicky, played by the talented young Mitchell with
assurance and charm.
In spite of its old-fashioned flavor, and its minor flaws, Front Street
is still an enjoyable evening in the theatre, filled with warmth and
affection.
Front Street," American Renegade Theater, 11136 Magnolia Blvd., North
Hollywood. Fridays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m. Ends April 29. $15.
(818) 763-1834.
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