Director Dani Snyder's rendition of the Maria Irene Fornes play Molly's Dream is an imaginative, energetic, and absurdly funny meditation on the complex workings of love and attraction.
This Boston Theatre Works' production at the Tremont Theatre opens with Molly (Liz Hayes), a waitress in an empty saloon, deeply immersed in the contrived fantasy of a Harlequin romance novel. Jim (Ozzie Carnan, Jr.), a handsome stranger, enters the saloon and the momentary exchange between Molly and Jim triggers a fantastic dream in which the two play a highly charged game of cat-and-mouse alternating between seduction and rejection as the characters slip in and out of various stereotypic film personas.
Other unique characters make their mark: John (Brian Gallivan), a vampire cowboy; Alberta (Stephanie Biernbaum), a na??ve and childlike 27-year-old tap dancer; and Mack (David Rabinow), a horny bartender and the most grounded character in the play. Ultimately, the dream ends with a renewed faith in the possibility of love and second chances.
The soundscape for this play, consisting of original pieces by composer Adam Roberts and of contemporary pop songs by Bjork, Elvis Presley, and other artists, only adds to the production's energy and offbeat humor. The small performance space of the Tremont Theatre lends an air of intimacy that is especially suited to Fornes's delicate and comic musings on sex and romance.
The characters in the play depict exaggerated stereotypes of the gender roles encapsulated in film rather than actual people. In Molly's dream, Jim starts off as a caricature of the Don Juan-type male, a man who exudes so much sex appeal he has three women who follow him wherever he goes. John, on the other hand, is a strange meld of sexual-predator-Dracula and hyper-masculine John Wayne (hence the name). Alberta is the developmentally delayed Shirley Temple-wannabe who naively falls prey to John's charms.
Character transformations are fluid and quick, as the actors slip in and out of various personas. After Molly has her heart broken by Jim, she instantly leaves behind her identity as "Molly" and turns into a cynical, nameless Marlene Dietrich-type with a glass of absinthe in her hand and a cigarette in the other. The sexually inexperienced Alberta, after being seduced by John, becomes a leather-clad vixen, ripping off her top to reveal a tight-fitting leather tank top. However, Molly and Jim ultimately come full circle to re-embody their original selves and reconcile with each other in a touching scene full of genuine sentiment and romantic possibility. Molly's words sum it up perfectly, "In order to become who we are, we go through many stages."
The play exposes the futile mind games and the lovelorn anguish that often characterize our romantic interactions both in the media and in real life, but it parodies our behavior by infusing its characters and the dialogue with a wonderfully light comic touch.
Molly's Dream has its profound moments, especially in the way it questions reality and fantasy. Jim tells Alberta that John and his sweeping declarations of love ("You are my peach.") are not "real," while Alberta, taken in by John's charms, insists wholeheartedly that they are. As Alberta is being led to John's bed, the three women clinging to Jim burst into song, "is this true passion?" they sing, suggesting that John is being driven by a need to alleviate his insecurities rather than by true love.
However, this scene is carried off with aplomb and humor, rather than weighted down with serious self-importance. This play probes our romantic interludes with outrageous hilarity and without the pretense of contrived melodrama that bogs down most theatrical and cinematic explorations of love.
The elements of the production work well to create a unified vision of Molly's Dream. The actors display an impeccable sense of comedic timing, and an ability to imbue the shortest and most repetitive of phrases with nuanced emotion. At one point, Mack and the three girls perform an entire song whose lyrics consist only of the words, "bang, bang," but they manage effectively to convey a range of emotions: curiosity, sexual excitement, eager hope, languid consent.
Despite the formidable talents of the leads Liz Hayes and Ozzie Carnan, Jr., Brian Gallivan's over-the-top performance as John stole the show and had the audience members in stitches as he alternated between swaggering cowboy and predatory Dracula. He also had the funniest sight gag in the show, involving a gun holster and a comment about being "well-hung."
Molly's Dream plays Mar. 14 and Mar. 15 at 10:15 p.m. at the Tremont Theatre, 276 Tremont Street.
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