If the title “Moonlight and Magnolias” does not ring a bell(e), do not go see the play.
First, rent “Gone with the Wind,” be moved by all 222 minutes of it, and then rush to see “Moonlight and Magnolias,” playing at the Dallas Theater Center through Feb. 18.
Two-thirds of “Moonlight” is a farce of the melodramatic classic, parodying the shenanigans on-screen and off-screen, and the other third is a peculiar rant on Jewish oppression. The result is an uneven but still enlightening look at Hollywood during the 1930s.
Superstar producer David O. Selznick (Matt Gaydos) has stopped production on the most highly anticipated movie of the year and calls on speedy script doctor Ben Hecht (Brad Bellamy) to rewrite the entire script in five days. He gives Victor Fleming (Richard Ziman) double directing duties, making him direct both “Gone with the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” at the same time. Unfortunately, Hecht has never read the best-selling 1,056-page novel by Margaret Mitchell. So, Selznick does the sensible thing and locks all three of them in his studio room with nothing but peanuts and bananas for fuel as they attempt to finish the script in five days. Hijinks ensue as Selznick and Fleming act out scenes from the novel while Hecht tries to write a coherent script from the acting madness.
Playwright Ron Hutchinson bases “Moonlight” on memoirs and notes from those who were in the room, especially Hecht’s accounts. However, full disclosure of what transpired has never been revealed, and Hutchinson says in production notes that he filled in the gaps based off his own experience as a Hollywood script doctor.
Enough cannot be said about the energy and intensity of the Dallas Theater Center’s production. The play calls for a hodgepodge of comedy types, and the cast zestfully obliges everything asked of them. The infamous slapping scene from the movie is a comical highlight in the play. Both Ziman and Bellamy steal the show in their characters’ version of the slap, and the small cast’s chemistry is tested in the play’s own slapping scene.
Gaydos gives Selznick five octave ranges from which to deliver his lines. Bellamy effectively growls out his lines and allows his body to sag into a sad sack as he bewilderingly listens to the pro-slavery tale. Ziman infuses Fleming with double takes and expressive faces to the audience, which doesn’t always work, even within a play this over the top. Still, when his physical choices work, he hits comedy gold. Jessica Turner leaves an impression in her brief appearances as Selznick’s frazzled secretary, Miss Poppenghul.
Scenic designer John Coyne crafts a beautiful studio room, but he makes his real money in designing the room’s degradation. As the week progresses, the room declines into a filthy pigsty. With each lowering and lifting of the curtains, part of the fun lies in the anticipation of the room’s banana and peanut-shell-filled nastiness.
Unfortunately, the cast’s energy doesn’t make up for a subpar script. All the different types of chemistry and the different subject matters touched upon do not add up. Individual scenes are hilarious, but as an over-arching story, the play loses some steam.
Still, any “Gone with the Wind” fan should see “Moonlight and Magnolias.” In fact, anybody who gives a damn shouldn’t miss out on either piece of high-quality entertainment.
