By Carol Davis
SAN DIEGO — The Old Globe theatre complex is a busy place these days. The Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage is hosting Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs and Broadway Bound (to be reviewed) in repertory and the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre is mounting the west coast premiere showing of Pulitzer Prize finalist (for his The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity), Kristopher Diaz’s engaging west coast premier of Welcome to Arroyo’s.
Short on story but with an appealing and young cast and some fun hip hop and rap music and dancing, Diaz’s story is set (Takeshi Kata) in Arroyo’s Longue now owned and operated by Alejandro or Alex (Andres Munar). It is located behind the family’s apartment on the lower East side of New York.
The place used to be a bodega owned and run by their (sister Amalia or Molly) mother and was a very popular spot for the locals. Alex has decided he now wants it to be a ‘longue’, but none of the regulars are coming back after their mother died. Molly is an artist, a tagger with a spray can and is inclined to being a rebel without a cause.
After spray painting or tagging her name on the side of the local police station and getting caught by the cop on the beat, Officer Derek (Byron Bronson) things take a bit of a positive turn for Molly. When officer Derek (Jeter but not THAT one) decides not to press charges and shows a bit of a romantic interest Molly acts out but soon changes her tune. After much kicking, screaming and mistrust Molly turns her attitude around. It’s all pretty predictable but that’s not even the crux.
An ex neighborhood gal Lelly (Tala Ashe is quite likeable) returns to the old hood. She is doing her graduate work on documenting the beginnings of the hip-hop culture. In her mind, in 1980 just as hip-hop came on to the scene, Reina Rey who “ could rock a microphone in English and Spanish with only herself as DJ” disappeared.
Lelly is on a quest to find Reina Rey’s roots. She’s also convinced that it was Alex and Molly’s mother, a somewhat saint of a person (Reina Rey) who might be one and the same. She has pictures to share with them that she thinks provide proof that she may be right. “I think I might have figured it out”.
Lelly tries to befriend Alex to talk to him about his mother and her theory but to no avail. He’s got his head somewhere else. He stubbornly cleans and cleans the counter of the bar (which is set in the middle of the stage) hoping the clients will return to his establishment. Molly shows some interest, but can’t shake Alex’s single minded attempt at making the bar a lounge.
Commenting on and keeping everyone on track is a wonderful duo or Greek Chorus starring Trip (Wade Allain- Marcus is adorable) and Nelson (GQ) who act as the local DJ”s in Arroyo’s. They sing, perform and, frankly give the play the much-added energy it needs.
“Welcome to Arroyo’s where the players play/we serve them black white purple striped straight and gay/you can hear the girls say on Avenue A”. “Trip Trizzy gets busy like his name was E-bay”/and we play the narrators, chorus and crew/Trip rocks the mic right… And yo, Nel does too/It’s true, so we’ll repeat, we rock the mic right/ You’re on the Lower East side and not In The Heights/”
To be sure the production itself is fun and appealing, particularly when some of the characters do a rewind of the scene they just acted. Diaz’s language geared to the 20’s generation of whom he will have their undivided attention there is no doubt. The music, while not my cup of tea is exactly what this piece needs. In fact more music and dancing would have been awesome was what I heard from the crowd exiting the theatre.
Unfortunately the story is a weak one and the energy level on the part of the majority of the cast is so low that if it weren’t for the two DJ’s it might have been a total bust.
Jamie Castañeda’s direction of his main characters could be juiced somewhat. Charlotte Devaux designed the now costumes, Aaron Rhyne’s projection design is right on target, Paul Peterson’s sound design and Matthew Richards’ lighting design give the overall look of the production a good feel.
Some work in developing a stronger story line would help give this piece much needed momentum.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: September 26th – October 31st, Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre/November 6+7 Lincoln High School Center for the Performing Arts
Phone: 619-234-5623
Production Type: Hip-Hop
Where: Balboa Park and Lincoln High School, 4777 Imperial Ave, San Diego
Ticket Prices: $29.00-$26.00 Old Globe/ $15.00Adults and $10.00 students, Lincoln High
Web: theoldglobe.org
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Theatre critic Davis is based in San Diego