Mark Taper Forum Press Jonathan
Silverman (left) and John Spencer star in
the West Coast premier of "Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine" by Warren
Leight. The play focuses on the reconcilation of two estranged
brothers.
By Esther Pasternak
Daily Bruin Contributor
Humor is not always a laughing matter.
It often reveals complicated emotions and difficult situations.
In the play “Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine,” playing at
the Mark Taper Forum through March 4, humor is used to highlight
life’s most complicated issues.
The play unravels the story of estranged twin brothers, Martin
(John Spencer) and Daniel Glimmer (Nicolas Surovy). In the
’50s the brothers played in the same jazz band, Glimmer,
Glimmer and Shine, and relished in the jazz culture of drugs,
alcohol, travel and women. The same culture, however, that bonded,
them tore them apart for 35 years and set them on opposite
paths.
The past, present and future clash when Daniel’s daughter
Delia (Alexa Fischer) meets Jordan (Jonathan Silverman). Jordan is
a trombone player and former student of Martin. To further
intertwine the characters, Jordan is also the son of the third
trumpeter, Eddie, in their former jazz group.
The play explores the values that are important in life as the
brothers move toward reconciliation through the lines of
communication brought about by Martin’s health problems and
the developing love between Delia and Jordan.
 Mark Taper Forum Press John Spencer
performs in "Glimmer, Glimmer, Shine", directed by Evan Yionoulis.
The play runs through March 4 at the Mark Taper Forum.
Delia makes the audience feel a connection to her and other
characters in the play from the beginning. By addressing the
audience when she first enters, she informs them of her vulnerable
emotional problems that lead her to speak to Jordan and become
involved in his life.
Scenes often begin by finishing a sentence from a previous
scene, which makes the two hours fly by. The fast paced nature also
gives viewers the sense that time is quickly passing, a theme
relevant to the message of the play ““ leading a meaningful
life given the limited time one has.
The acting in the play is genuine. When Spencer bounces out onto
the stage for his final bow, the audience gasps with surprise at
the contrast between him and his character Martin ““ who is in
deteriorating health throughout the play.
Playwright Warren Leight crafts the play using witty lines and
hilarious dialogue. Besides making the play especially entertaining
and colorful, this technique reveals a complex range of emotions
behind each hilarious remark.
The joke, for instance, eloquently delivered by Martin displays
one of the complex issues underlying the comedy ““ “You
know what you call a perpetual optimist? A trombone player with a
pager.” Such lighthearted commentary is really meant to sum
up the financial problems associated with the jazz culture.
In another humorous scene, Delia asks for iced tea in
Martin’s shack-like house filled with a dilapidated couch and
empty diet coke boxes only to receive shocked silence and blank
stares because such a drink has never been served there. This
moment reflects the dramatic differences between Daniel’s
upper class society and Martin’s almost homeless
existence.
“Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine” cleverly deals with the
complicated issue of keeping someone on life support, by using
humor to accentuate the deep emotions in the play.
After falling into a coma due to his deteriorating health
conditions, the audience is privy to Martin’s innermost
thoughts, which are always revealed through the mask of humor. Here
Martin’s pain of being estranged from his brother is fully
understood by the viewers, as well as the difficulties he
experiences in dealing with his own impending death and memories of
the past.
The production manages to capture the unique experience of
feeling every emotion at once, that sometimes only music can
convey. The mix of enjoying the humor, feeling the sting of
Martin’s poverty and poor health, feeling angry at
superficial upper class values, and contemplating the consequences
of separate social worlds, gives viewers an assortment of emotions
to sort out long after the final scene.
THEATER: “Glimmer, Glimmer and
Shine” plays at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave. It
shows Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays
at 7:30 p.m. through March 4. Tickets are $30 to $44. For
information call (213) 628-2772.