A Hotel on the Marvin Gardens

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

Monopoly on the board; monopoly on the Boards. The one is played once a year on April Fool's Day by the staff of ME Magazine. The other is played every day of the year by the staff of ME Magazine. The one is dirty and contrived the other is contrived and dirty. Not much difference, except the one lasts one day, while the other never quits.

Such is A Hotel On Marvin Gardens written by the acclaimed playwright, Nagel Jackson and produced by Spotlight Theatre Company at the John Hand Theatre. Directed by Pat Payne, this delightful production has been playing to near sold out houses, leaving only one more weekend in the run.

The Cast of Spotlight Theatre's A Hotel on Marvins Garden

Hosted by ME Magazine's owner, KC (Molly Killoran), the once a year action takes place in her hide-away home on one of the Thimble Islands on the coast of Connecticut in Long Island Sound. She inherited the house from her father, and treasures it for its isolation. By her own admission, she doesn't like people.

The once a year event has been going on for ten years. Strange as it may seem, she has won every year, and always gets her way with a hotel on Marvin Gardens. Once you get to know her, however, the coincidence doesn't seem strange at all. KC gets what she wants when she wants it, and disposes of her "wantings" whenever she sees fit. It’s her way or the doorway. Even when it is her way, sometimes the doorway becomes her way.

Cooing sweet nothings into his ear, reminding him what a great lover he is, one look at her publisher, Bo, (Andy Anderson) and you know she loves the psychological castration attack on men to keep them in their place, guaranteeing her place remains secure.

Fiddling with last minute attention getters: counting the money, considering where everyone will sit, and just fiddling, KC muses who her editor, Henry, (Bernie Cardell), will bring this year, and with a sly "jucified" smile, confides to Bo she plans to fire Henry.

Hearing the boat arrive, horror cools her blood stream. With Henry is the new restaurant critic, Erna (Linda Williams).

While Henry, a lost neurotic soul, schleps into the house, Erna explodes with over dramatic enthusiasm.

Williams pours her soul into the flamboyant Erna dressed in gaudy bright colors, displaying her own neurotic tendencies with bold acclaim including fuzzy red socks, a small doll, and the announcement she always wins, and she always acquires Marvin Gardens.

Up until her entrance, the production suffers from near boredom dragging its heels. In more ways than one, Erna saves the day. Erna's zealous approach to everything and everyone left me thinking about other restaurant critics, and would that some of them had a quarter of her temperamental zeal and flair for color. Right, wrong, or indifferent, you want to hear everything she has to say not for what she says, but the way she says it.

Cardell captures interest with Henry with his far away distracted gaze into nothingness beyond the ocean. He has a new therapist, and feeds on quoting her. One more woman to tell him what to do and how to think, but it takes him a while to figure that out.

The Cast of Spotlight Theatre's A Hotel on Marvins Garden

Ah, the plays the thing, and sparks have already begun to shatter the room with Erna's arrival. KC knows exactly how to handle Bo and Henry. Erna presents an unforeseen challenge.

An unexpected guest, Rose, (Johanna Jacquith), changes everything and everyone. In a thunderstorm, Rose escapes from a lecherous young man who takes her to the island for some fun and games of his own. Drenched, she discovers the house, pleading for help. A schoolteacher, Rose offers a youthful bright-eyed bushy-tailed innocence capturing Henry's long lost imagination and providing him with a spirit he forgot he ever owned. Cardell's take and imprint on Henry becomes an intriguing sight to observe. Pathetic as he may be, Henry captures some of the play's funniest lines while Cardell surrounds them with just the right texture.

Jacquith does a superb job of defining Rose with a straightforward approach to life in juxtaposition to the trundled lives playing games to play a game.

Brian Miller designed the set and impressive lighting, shattering nerves on the boards and off through the thunderstorm. With wide windows in the house, a panorama of the ocean and rocky coast, a feeling of isolation hovers around the house and characters.

Although, Sue Hettinger outdid herself in the costume department with Erna's colorful array of "pay attention to me" patterns, a small costume problem bugged me throughout the show.

It is understandable this day of all days for ME Magazine would be casual, but I doubt very much KC in all her power and authority syndrome would stand for Bo's wrinkled shirt. His resignation toward KC's powerful grab into life is one thing, but even I think she would put her foot down on sloppiness. Impression is all too vital to this woman whose middle name is Control.

Rose's wonderment of the glitz and beauty of shiny objects owned by the wealthy, encourages honest musings from both Bo and Henry over the emptiness of glitz, glamour, ad wealth.

Positioning and repositioning the maneuvers of the characters calls for a goodly amount of stage movements as they cross away from and toward each other in a self imposed statement of uncertain anxiety. However, much of the stage crossings leave the character's point of view and become movement for the sake of movement without any rhyme and reason.

Act II recovers from the slowness at the beginning. Sparks fly, saucy insults drip, and humorous moments erupt as the showdown between KC and Erna digs deep from gaming to a needle sharp sword fight of twisted tongues. The slowness of Act I could be assisted greatly if Killoran would allow KC to just shove her way onto the scene from the very beginning through deliberate body movements and stances that says right from the start "Don't mess with me. I'm in charge and don't you forget it." It's there. It just needs to be allowed out into the open with a little more air to breathe.

In spite of it all, Spotlight's A Hotel on Marvin Gardens is a delightful, funny, thought provoking, commentary on those who have and want more, and those who have little but appreciate what they have even though they yearn for the more. It brims with a richly talented cast who project they have given a great deal of thought to their explosive characters even when they think someone broke their detonator switch. Timing must be just right for actors when their characters discover things about themselves they think have been "authoritized" and powered away. This cast has it and owns it. It's no wonder A Hotel on Marvin Gardens faces sold out houses. Catch it if you can. You'll love the laughable situations, you’ll recognize the power struggles, and smile when characters discover a source of strength they didn't know they had.

A Hotel on Marvin Gardens
By Nagle Jackson - directed by Pat Payne