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Sealey queen
By John Berger
in ‘Bees’ hive
Special to the Star-BulletinThe performance of Sheilah Sealey and the art work of Kale Braden (set design) are the two most immediately impressive components of Manoa Valley Theatre's season-closing production of "As Bees in Honey Drown."
Sealey is best known for her G-rated work as a company actor with Honolulu Theatre for Youth, but gives a career-best performance with much more "mature" material.
Braden's striking backdrop dominates the split-level set and appears to change color thanks to the wizardry of Darren Hochstedler (lighting design). Braden's creation is probably too big to be saved but adds significantly to the experience of sitting through this self-styled "new comedy" about modern life among newly minted celebrities in New York City.
Sealey does Po'okela Award-worthy work with her portrayal of glamorous jet-setter Alexa Vere de Vere. It's a demanding role she plays to perfection.
Alexa retains Evan Wyler (Braddoc A. DeCaires) to write a treatment of her life for a Hollywood movie. He's a sensitive gay writer who's attracting notice with his just-published first novel. She gives him $1,000 a week to hang out with her and take notes, and soon starts buying him things.
What's a boy to do?
Sealey has some great one-liners on the derivative wasteland of modern pop culture, the fascination with "celebrities" who become famous without having created or achieved anything that justifies fame, and the thin line between illusion and substance, but playwright Douglas Carter Beane's story is something less than the sum of its parts.
There are moments when the work gels as a sardonic commentary on the shallow lives of the barely rich and the almost-famous, but those moments don't come often enough. Evan is a nice guy but we never become emotionally engaged with his experiences because Beane uses him more as a dramatic device than as a three-dimensional character.
DeCaires is perfect as the geeky novelist. Evan's vulnerability on several levels is obvious from the onset and his clumsiness around men becomes evident later; he confesses at one point that he's only had one boyfriend and concentrated on his novel once that relationship ended. DeCaires' success with the role includes making Evan an equally credible character when the novelist takes control of his life in the final scenes.
Russell Motter reaffirms his status as one of the most underrated actors in local theater with strong performances in two roles here. Motter is effective and straightforward opposite Sealey in the lengthy flashback that reveals Alexa's origins. He is phenomenal in a smaller role as a gay clothing salesman; even his friends won't recognize him.
Blake Kushi, Melinda Maltby and Kathleen Stuart play various secondary roles. Kushi adds a welcome jolt of energy with his portrayal of an abrasive record producer who sets Evan straight on the nature of the game that's being run. The others remain caricatures.
Act I moves slowly and takes a long time to go beyond cartoon-style characterization. Little of it is as clever as it must have seemed to Beane when he wrote it.
Director R. Kevin Doyle picks up the pacing in Act II. Enlightenment comes early in Act II when Evan smells the coffee, and the audience realizes how easily almost anyone could find themselves in the same situation. Evan's response may seem like be a writer's fantasy but it plays out well enough.
Karen Brilliande (costume design) makes Sealey a focal point in basic black. Tony Pisculli (fight choreography) adds to the impact of a key moment in Act I.
On stage
What: "As Bees in Honey Drown"
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