In the mid-1930s, it took the luxurious New York Central’s 20th
Century Express 16 hours to shuttle the 960 miles from Chicago to
New York. With upgraded first class service that included ornate
compartments with bedrooms and drawing rooms, gourmet dining and
air conditioning with recessed lighting, it was the way those who
could afford it would travel.
In the mid-1930s, it took the luxurious New York Central’s 20th Century Express 16 hours to shuttle the 960 miles from Chicago to New York. With upgraded first class service that included ornate compartments with bedrooms and drawing rooms, gourmet dining and air conditioning with recessed lighting, it was the way those who could afford it would travel.
Playwright Ken Ludwig adapted the Hecht-MacArther madcap farce based on a play by Charles B. Milholland. “Twentieth Century” opened on Broadway Dec. 29, 1932 and then in the movies in 1934 (with John Barrymore, when he was on his last alcoholic legs, and an unknown at-the-time Carol Lombard). It was revived again on Broadway in 1951. The play took place on the illustrious train and was a tornado of a crazy madcap plot that folks of the ’30s, just shaking off the depression, enjoyed.
Director Robert Kelly knows timing – and everything on the “Twentieth Century” depends on precise timing. He leads his pristine, sharp cast through a funhouse ride with a plot that includes a bunch of wild, egotistical, screwball characters – all which show his sensitive hand of how farce should be done.
Neurotic producer Oscar Jaffe (Dan Hiatt) desperately needs a hit, and he know his former estranged girlfriend Lily Garland (Rebecca Dines), who is now a Hollywood star, will be on the train. His plan is to convince her to star in his new production (which at the moment barely exists). Get the drift? Include a nuthouse of wild, off-the-wall characters and mistaken identity, all just one maraca short of a mariachi band, and you have “Twentieth Century.”
The real show stealer is scenic designer Andrea Bechert’s reproduction of the interior of the train. It coughs steam, jiggles, moves up, down and sideways. When it finally steams into its final destination the audience feel like they have actually been on the “Twentieth Century.”
Fumiko Bielefeldt’s glad rags of the ’30s fit the mood – especially Lily’s pieces of the time. There is a blouse in the second act I would kill for. Cliff Caruthers’ sound and Steven B. Mannshardt’s lighting make “Twentieth Century” easy to hear and look at.
A strong, well-tuned cast keeps the train moving at breakneck speed and leaves spectators with the feeling they have actually been a part of the goofy trip.
“Twentieth Century” offers an evening of escaping to laughter, and well, just escaping.
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‘Twentieth Century’
Where: Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro St., Mountain View
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays; 2 & 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 & 7 p.m. Sundays; through Feb. 8
Details: (650) 903-6000 or visit www.theatreworks.org
