A capitalist pig comes to Washington towing along his mistress. The twist? It's set in the 1940s, meaning gorgeous costumes, sassy one-liners and big-band music. With Arena Stage's production of "Born Yesterday," it also means snappy acting and brilliant attention to detail.
Junkyard king Harry Brock (Jonathan Fried) wants to profit from the scraps of World War II. He shacks up in a D.C. hotel to pressure his bought congressman to remove the obstructions to business. In our era of no-bid corporate contracts, the parallels are obvious. The audience chuckles when the mistress, Billie Dawn (Suli Holum), asks about decent men in government. They guffaw when she defines Democrats as simply "not Republicans."
The play doesn't successfully beat back modern cynicism, but it does inspire modern fashion sensibilities. The costume design (Michael Krass) is simply marvelous. Emerald silk suits, fedoras and pinstripe vests parade across the stage stealing the eyes of the audience. The props are delightful too; vintage copies of Time Magazine splash across coffee tables and a maid whisks away a towering bouquet of flowers. The attention to minutiae is representative of the polish given the whole production.
No single gesture seems unplanned. The production's rhythm is exquisitely maintained. Yes-man Eddie Brock (Hugh Nees) answers every request with a rattling "Riiiight." It's perfect, a joke in itself. Every line is treated carefully in Garson Kanin's script, although perhaps there is a little too much respect. Arena Stage could've updated the script a bit more and injected a touch of spontaneity.
Kanin is an American playwright and comedic legend who began his career with "Born Yesterday." The first production ran in 1946 and the piece shows it. It's a little dated, especially when it comes to gender roles. Boss-man Brock hires young reporter Paul Verrall (Michael Bakkensen) to tutor his mistress, aiming to make her more presentable for capital society. Of course, a man would show Dawn the intellectual light to raise her from her dark, sinning life with Brock. With Verrall's guidance, she realizes Brock is no big man, despite his ability to buy her two mink coats, and even her noble, poor elevator operator father is a better person. Yes, yet another man is responsible for Dawn doing the right thing - dumping the rich sucker, becoming pure and marrying a good man. This modern girl says, "Boo!"
Win some points, lose some points. More wins include generally stellar acting. No sore blokes here. By the nature of the script, Suli Holum as Dawn dominates the show, earning a smattered standing ovation for her performance. Again, her voice inflection is perfect, pulling jokes where none were written. She flits and floats across the stage giving her character a sexy energy. Rick Foucheux masterfully animates Brock's fallen-from-high attorney Ed Devery. Foucheux is able to show the character's increasing defeat as the play progresses.
So skip the stale popcorn and go to the Arena Stage. Student tickets on select nights go for as little as $10, one dollar more than catching a flick at the Georgetown megaplex. School of Communication students should snatch their Kogod darlings for this major-appropriate affair. "Born Yesterday" will also go over well with anyone who can successfully spell the word "classy"
