It Had To Be You – 8/11/08

For box office information, click on the title of this review.

Finally.

Since I began posting these reviews last month, I’ve seen some really good things, some really bad things and some mediocre things. I’ve never had the occasion to give a full out rave. Until now:

Carla Mutone and Jack Smith are comedic gods and if you don’t order tickets for It Had To Be You at the Village Theater Guild in Glen Ellyn right now, you’re a masochistic theatrical fool who would rather see thirty people do a big name musical passibly than watch two people in a little name show blow the roof off the joint.

Let’s get this out of the way: Directing, lights, sound, set design & decoration, costumes (love the psychedelic boots) and all other backstage aspects are top notch and provide a terrific framework for the acting. Now:

It Had to Be You by Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna concerns Theda Blau, an actress/writer wannabe who traps TV commercial producer/director Vito Pignoli in her apartment on Christmas Eve and attempts to seduce him in every conceivable way known to mankind, if a hurricane can be called seductive.

That’s it. That’s the plot. So as opposed to something like Noises Off, which depends mainly on physical math and geometry, It Had to Be You lives or dies on the character work.

Jack Smith is the perfect straight man for this type of show. He’s warm, personable and funny. Completely believable as a fairly laid-back commercial success who likes everybody but himself. Vito comes across as really decent guy who wouldn’t hurt anybody – even a borderline-psychotic screwball who effectively kidnaps him. Smith’s timing is impeccable and his acting in the more serious moments is right on target.

Carla Mutone’s voice has the slight rasp of the mid 1960s Lucille Ball – and that’s not the only comparison (assuming Lucy wanted to fuck Mr. Mooney). She is a fireball of energy, clearly understands every last itsy bitsy nuance of the part, has a radiant lovability that keeps you from wanting to smack Theda and delivers one of the greatest comic performances you are ever going to see. Mutone completely sells the idea that the wackiness isn’t just sitcom zaniness, but is backed by desperation and misery.

However, it takes two to tango. The work of Mutone and Smith is more than the sum of its parts. One of my prime complaints, as you may have surmised last week, is when actors don’t connect with each other onstage. There is never a moment when Mutone or Smith is in a private little world, showing us How Well They Emote. They are completely in sync at all times and operate like a well-oiled machine (although considering some Theda’s persuasive methods, “well-oiled” is not the most delicate phrasing.) This is teamwork of the highest caliber. Community theatre hasn’t been awful lately, so it isn’t as if this is a diamond in a shit pile. But It Had to Be You is a diamond just laying there waiting to be picked up. The ticket price is only $10. Pick up the goddamned diamond.