A new drama by Doménica Feraud, someone spectacular, has recently opened at the Pershing Square Signature Center off-Broadway. Through this play, Ms. Feraud seeks to pay tribute to her late mother, Nathalie Feraud-Salame, who receives a special dedication in the Playbill. Unfortunately, this play needs a lot more work and a lot more thought put into it to be a truly fitting tribute to a beloved parent – or an absorbing drama.
someone spectacular deals with the six members of a weekly support group for the recently bereaved. We meet them at one of their meetings, where, for some unknown reason, their group leader, Beth, had not arrived. (This is the device Alfred Hitchcock referred to as “the MacGuffin,” the thing that sets the plot in motion and motivates the characters but is insignificant or irrelevant in itself.) The six – Evelyn (Gamze Ceylan), the dependable; Nelle (Alison Cimmet), the impatient; Jude (Delia Cunningham), the youngest; Lily (Ana Cruz Kayne), the unfiltered; Julian (Shakur Tolliver), the conciliator; and Thom (Damian Young), the oldest – fret over why Beth is late, and argue over continuing with the session in her absence, how to proceed, what therapeutic mechanisms they should use, and even if they should contact Beth.
In the course of the play, we find out for whom each of the six is mourning, the stories of their loved ones’ lives, and how those lives affected, and still affects, each of them. Much is made of the points that, like death itself, grief is a universal yet individualized event; that each person grieves in their own way, coping in their own time; and that one’s grief should not be compared to another’s or be judged upon in the name of “appropriateness.”
Unfortunately for the actors and for director Tatiana Pandiani, the dialog they have been given is disconnected from reality. It seems that the characters are giving out back stories and exposition to the audience instead of relating to each other. Even though the main topic of the play is death and grief, the play itself is oddly devoid of life. And because the play isn’t a living, breathing happening, the actors and director are defeated by it. Given a better script to work with, the director and cast could have more forcefully made the play’s points.
The death of a loved one, freeing buried emotions and leaving one at a loss to know how to move forward, is a serious and universal topic, one that does not get examined closely often. Unfortunately, someone spectacular in its current incarnation, is not the play one should see to gain insights on this very human condition. While I would be very interested in seeing a revised version of this play, I feel I cannot recommend seeing this production of someone spectacular.
someone spectacular is presented at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre in the Pershing Square Signature Center on West 42nd Street in New York through September 7th. For more information or to order tickets, call 212-967-1913 or go to someonespectacularplay.com.
