‘Linda Vista’: Love pains & middle age

‘LINDA VISTA’: Ian Barford & Caroline Neff. Photo: Joan Marcus

LINDA VISTA
Written by Tracy Letts
Directed by Dexter Bullard
Through November 10, 2019
Helen Hayes Theater
240 West 44th Street
(212-541-4516), https://2st.com/shows/linda-vista

By David NouNou

Tracy Letts as a playwright wrote the legendary epic August: Osage County, and as an actor he has given a definitive portrayal of George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I mention this because he is so good at everything he does. Whether on the screen or on stage, his performances ring true, but as a playwright he can be hit or miss. His Broadway follow-up to the illustrious August: Osage County was Superior Donuts—which at best was a disappointment. His current Linda Vista falls somewhere in between.

There is no doubt that Mr. Letts can write interesting, complex and flawed characters. The first act of Linda Vista is actually quite funny: a divorced man, Wheeler (Ian Barford), 50 and with a hip problem, is just moving to his new San Diego digs with the help of his best friend, Paul (Jim True-Frost). Wheeler is having a hard time adjusting to moving out of his ex-wife’s garage and leaving his troubled teenage son. This opening sets up Wheeler as an erudite but rigid know-it- all, and messed up. I mean really messed up. The exchange between the two is quite clever. Wheeler is in a dead-end job working as a camera repairman; he used to have ambitions to be a great photographer. Paul is concerned that Wheeler is not getting out much, so he fixes a double date with him and his wife, Margaret (Sally Murphy) and introduces the guy to Jules (Cora Vander Broek). They all go out to a karaoke singalong at a local bar.

With mixed feelings, Wheeler hits it off with Jules and they end up having a hysterical night of sex (hysterical for the audience), when in the middle of their second go round in walks Minnie, (Chantal Thuy), a 20-year-old pregnant Vietnamese next-door neighbor who has been thrown out of her apartment and has nowhere to go but ends up at Wheeler’s doorstep.

It’s in the second act that mayhem ensues. As in August: Osage County, no one comes out unscathed. The devastated and flawed have to pick up the pieces in their own way to survive, but somehow Wheeler keeps sinking lower to the point of losing his job. Maybe in the end he can start re-finding his redemption through his love of photography.

Mr. Letts knows how to write about white male flawed characters well, and his characters are extremely realistic. They have the same problems we do, but they have the nihilistic gene that thankfully most of us don’t have. The scenes are well written but director Dexter Bullard does not do an adequate job of editing the text. Scenic designer Todd Rosenthal has created a great set of the Linda Vista apartment complex in San Diego and various nearby locations, but again Mr. Bullard doesn’t utilize the scenes to properly fuse them into each other; the scenes just run into each other.

Cora Vander Broek—who until recently has been hidden away from Broadway in the hinterlands—is marvelous. Her Jules is heartbreaking. Having just broken up with a jerk and being quite vulnerable, she is a self-help “life coach” motivator on the rebound who thinks she has a good shot with Wheeler. Her breakup in the restaurant with him is shattering and crumbling. Just keep an eye on her self-respect moment towards the end; she speaks for every woman who has been scorned by a jerk and can move on with her head held high.

In the central role of Wheeler, I kept envisioning the charismatic Mr. Letts in the part of the disillusioned, washed-up wastrel.  A part like Wheeler needs an enigmatic actor who can be such a sh*t and still see the error of his ways and might find redemption in the end. Mr. Barford supplies Wheeler with the trappings of a heel, but can’t get us to hope for his ultimate salvation

Sally Murphy as Margaret gives a scorching performance in the second act, berating Wheeler for the person he is becoming.

There is a lot of good material in Linda Vista but with uneven writing and directing, it’s harder to roll the boulder up that mountain of empathy for a guy like Wheeler.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 16, 2019
Reviewed at October 15, 2019 press performance.

‘LINDA VISTA’: Cora Vander Broek & Ian Barford. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LINDA VISTA’: Jim True-Frost & Sally Murphy. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LINDA VISTA’: Chantal Thuy & Ian Barford. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘LINDA VISTA’: Cora Vander Broek & Ian Barford. Photo: Joan Marcus