THE CITY: 33% Bitter – UPDATED

Photo by Doug Engalla

BITTERSWEET
Director Stan Mazin’s adaptation and update of Clyde Fitch’s 1909 play has a lot going for it. That said, references to Lady Gaga and Desperate Housewives can’t disguise the fact that it’s an overly talky melodrama.
Sandra Ross – LA Weekly

BITTERSWEET
The holes come in the staging and acting. Hector Hank plays his entire role on crutches, the result of an accident during rehearsal. Nonetheless, director Mazin has him making unnecessary rises and crosses as if he were healthy. It looks ridiculous! Credit Hank with holding it together and turning in an excellent performance. The women in the play, with the exception of Melissa Soso as Eleanor, George Jr’s fiancé, overact terribly. Glenn Collins, as the coke snorting Hannock, is a bundle of jerkiness and incongruity. He is costumed like a calypso dancer and acts in fits and starts. In fact, all the costumes look like they came out of Goodwill. Terrible choices abound. Bix Barnaba is okay as a fast talking politico who’s ushering George Jr’s nomination, yet he stumbles over lines at times when he’s playing a character that needs to be letter perfect. Alexander Leeb adds a touch of realism playing Teresa’s philandering husband Don. There’s a good deal of potential in Mazin’s adaptation but the acting, blocking, and costumes just mess it up. There are a few good confrontation scenes, but a couple of scenes are overwritten. The play on the whole has punch but needs work.
Robert Axelrod – Reviewplays

BITTER
Although this play had “its moments” and some fine performances, it was kind of “all over the place” and ineffectively adapted to present day which, I felt, diminished its impact.
Pay Taylor – Tolucan Times

BITTER
Hector Hank, who plays George Jr., does a decent job holding down the story and serves as a center piece for the other parts to orbit. That he does so on crutches is a tough thing to watch (the actor was apparently injured for the performance.) The actors around him are mostly unremarkable, and some, including the actor playing George Sr,. seemed to have neglected to fully learn their lines in time for the show. Even with an earnest cast and a decent production design, the script’s familiar themes and Muzin’s superficial updates are not enough to rescue this adaptation from obscurity.
D. Jette – LA Theatre Review

SWEET
Fitch’s second act pits Hannock against George Jr. in a finely tuned argument that signals the playwright’s brilliant technique. It is a written and well acted tour de force driven by the stellar Hector Hank as George. Since the play is centered on his moral dilemma, his role is pivotal to the success of the play as a whole and Hank does not disappoint. Supporting him is a more mannered Glenn Collins, although he holds his own in the climactic scenes. As Eleanor, Melissa Soso breathes humanity into a stereotypical role, while Trisha Hershberger as Megan creates an appealing little sister to George. Sadly, some of the rest of the cast is highly uneven, making it difficult for audiences to respond, especially in the first act. But for those hardy enough to return to the play, they are amply rewarded.
Leigh Kennicott – Stagehappenings