San Diego Magazine / April 2004 / Chewing on the Food Chain

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Chewing on the Food Chain

In April, the Old Globe will produce a play by Nicky Silver—and hardly anyone will raise an eyebrow. That happening, by itself, illustrates how sophisticated local audiences have become. Not too many years back, the Globe, our most traditional and endowed theater organization, had to keep its programming pretty close to the middle of the road or face subscriber rebellion. And Silver’s works, challenging and controversial, were done here only by cutting-edge companies like Sledgehammer and Fritz.

All that has changed as San Diego’s stage scene has flowered. With new companies and venues popping up all over the county, theater regulars are growing increasingly accustomed to schedules that are innovative and unfamiliar. And that has enabled Globe artistic director Jack O’Brien to choose works from a bigger palette. In 1994, the company did Oleanna, its first mounting of a David Mamet play, and some Globe patrons were unhappy with the harsh theme—sexual harassment—and rough language. Two years later, however, the Globe season included Mamet’s American Buffalo, and objections were few.

These days, the Globe regularly blends the familiar with the provocative. Last season, for instance, included Splendour, a Rubik’s Cube of a play that I found fascinating, while many others didn’t, and Pentecost, a major epic that also divided audiences. Now, following productions of linear plays by icons William Inge and Arthur Miller, comes Silver’s absurdist The Food Chain, a spoof of many U.S. obsessions, particularly eating and physical beauty. If past Silver stagings are any guide, Food Chain will bewitch some, bother others and bewilder a few. What it won’t do is bore. And during this reign of “reality” TV, isn’t it great to have theater to make you think?

If Harmony, the Barry Manilow–Bruce Sussman musical that was a La Jolla Playhouse hit in 1997, ever makes it to Broadway, it will triumphantly culminate an incredible struggle. Getting a show to that theatrical mecca is always a formidable challenge, but Harmony’s route has been especially daunting. The work—based on the story of the Comedian Harmonists, a popular German singing sextet of the 1920s and early ’30s broken up by the Nazis—was supposed to go to New York a year or so after its La Jolla run. But money dried up, partly because of the box-office failure of a film about the Harmonists and—coincidentally—another musical about them.

Over the years, Manilow and Sussman pushed for productions in other locations, like Chicago and Fort Lauderdale, and finally scheduled a December 2003 tryout stint in Philadelphia. Dates were announced, a cast and team were assembled, and rehearsals began. Even better, advance ticket sales for a Broadway run were reported to total $500,000. Then, just two weeks before the show was to open, the producers stunningly canceled it, saying that promised money hadn’t appeared. On top of that disappointment, Manilow and Sussman abruptly found they had to battle the production company over the rights to the musical. In February, an arbitration panel unanimously ruled in their favor, so they’ve subsequently worked to reassemble a team and try again. Maybe there’s a silver lining: The story behind Harmony can generate its own musical. They can call it Discord.

(The Food Chain, Apr. 24–May 30; Tues. & Wed. at 7; Thur. & Fri. at 8, Sat. at 2 & 8., Sun. at 2 & 7. Cassius Carter Centre Stage, Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park, 619-239-2255, www.theoldglobe.com.)