Harry Brock, the boorish businessman at the center of "Born Yesterday," has money, lots of it. He boasts that, with his money, "I can run the men who run the country." Money and politics - one of America's enduring love stories. Although the play, currently on stage at ACT Theatre, is half a century old, it's still pertinent today.
But it's not a political diatribe. It's a rollicking comedy built around an almost naïve belief in the democratic process. Its author, Garson Kanin, had an idealistic view of our country. In "Born Yesterday" the struggle between the selfish and the unselfish is won by the good guys.
Brock doesn't only buy senators; he buys sex. He's learned that if you give a good-looking broad a couple of mink coats you can own her, and he owns Billie Dawn, the voluptuous blonde who's been his companion for nine years. Loud of mouth, big of breasts, short on knowledge, she's just the right match for him.
Right for him, that is, until he's trying to close a big deal in D.C. Brock's paying a senator to guarantee legislation favorable to his business interests. Even bribed senators and their wives expect a modicum of class in their colleagues. Brock, who doesn't realize how much he could use a few lessons in deportment, does have an acute awareness of Billie's shortcomings. He hires a young and idealistic journalist to shape up the little lady, to smarten her up.
Turns out that hidden under the bleached-blonde hair is a head full of brains. The lady can think as well as she can sashay. And when she begins to use her brain, no amount of money or mink can save Mr. Brock.
Billie Dawn is a dream role for an actress, but it's not without its dangers. Judy Holliday defined the part in the original 1946 Broadway production and the 1950 film that followed. Every actress who has tackled it since is inevitably judged against Holliday's award-winning portrayal.
Jennifer Lyon compares well. She makes a totally believable transformation from an uneducated, abused ex-chorine to a thoughtful, independent woman capable of wresting control from Brock. Her triumph is one of the power of ideas and the democratic process over corruption and greed.
The stage is alight when she's on it, and fortunately that's for most of the play. She's got the voice, the body, the intelligence and all the nuance demanded of the part.
Richard Ziman as Harry Brock, the self-made millionaire from New Jersey, is not quite as successful. His is a role that demands a certain degree of malevolence. Unfortunately his portrayal is too much Ralph Kramden and too little Tony Soprano. The decision to play it so heavily for laughs dilutes the power of the play.
David Pichette portrays Sen. Hedges as more of a toadying figure than a powerful presence, and I don't understand that decision. R. Hamilton Wright as Brock's lawyer makes it clear he knows that he's sold himself to the devil, but can tolerate it as long as he has enough to drink. He plays the sober lawyer better than the drunk one, however.
Paul Morgan Stetler plays Paul Verrall, the journalist who agrees to teach a few things to Billie so she appears to be respectable. It's a job that pays well and gives him an opportunity to get background information on Brock for the article he's writing about him. Stetler competently portrays an idealistic young guy who believes in the principles for which this country stands. Of course, he falls in love with Billie and successfully mixes his passion for democratic values with his passion for the blonde.
Give credit to Warner Shook, the director, for the overall success of this production. He gets extra kudos for masterminding the hilarious first act scene when we get the first inkling that there's more to Billie than boobs. She sits down for a game of gin with Harry, and her every gesture, every facial expression, every win display her cunning. Harry doesn't stand a chance. We don't realize it then, but that scene is masterful foreshadowing of things to come.
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