Angels Share

Can we have a moratorium, please, on characters wisecracking bravely in the face of death? A little craven fear would be refreshing at this point. In Casey DeFranco's new play "Angel's Share," a pair of fine actresses, Salome Jens and Paula Prentiss, work pretty hard trying to bring some authentic emotion to a tired tale

Can we have a moratorium, please, on characters wisecracking bravely in the face of death? A little craven fear would be refreshing at this point. In Casey DeFranco's new play "Angel's Share," a pair of fine actresses, Salome Jens and Paula Prentiss, work pretty hard trying to bring some authentic emotion to a tired tale of death and denial. The play's plot may be summed up thus: Prentiss' Dixie is dying of cancer, and Jens' Loretta refuses to accept it. They're best-friends-for-life, we gather, although very little texture is given to their relationship; mostly, Dixie makes naughty wisecracks about men and sex ("You should never marry the man you love," she opines, presumably unaware that Oscar Wilde said it better sometime in the last century). She's equally flip about her impending death, of course. "How do you feel?" gets the response "Like I'm riddled with cancer, and you?"

Can we have a moratorium, please, on characters wisecracking bravely in the face of death? A little craven fear would be refreshing at this point. In Casey DeFranco’s new play “Angel’s Share,” a pair of fine actresses, Salome Jens and Paula Prentiss, work pretty hard trying to bring some authentic emotion to a tired tale of death and denial.

Related Stories

Downward line graph with an Apple Vision Pro on fire VIP+

Apple Vision Pro Clouds the Bright Future for XR

Secret Level

'Secret Level' Director Tim Miller and Epic Games Execs Talk Hollywood's Relationship With Unreal Engine as Version 5.5 Launches

The play’s plot may be summed up thus: Prentiss’ Dixie is dying of cancer, and Jens’ Loretta refuses to accept it. They’re best-friends-for-life, we gather, although very little texture is given to their relationship; mostly, Dixie makes naughty wisecracks about men and sex (“You should never marry the man you love,” she opines, presumably unaware that Oscar Wilde said it better sometime in the last century). She’s equally flip about her impending death, of course. “How do you feel?” gets the response “Like I’m riddled with cancer, and you?”

Popular on Variety

Loretta cares for Dixie as best she can, while fending off the nettlesome interference of her dumb-blonde daughter Eve (Joan Sweeney), and her very annoying granddaughter Lily (Erinn Strain), whose every other line seems to be a screeched “Mom! I can’t believe you!”

The play’s progress is from bad moments to worse ones. A grisly scene in which Dixie is wheeled, apparently comatose, to her own birthday party — the one Loretta, now in denial with a capital D, insists on having — is topped by Dixie’s mad scene, in which she’s got up in pink feather boa, purple corset and fur, all of which seem unlikely items to be found in the closet of a woman living in such a cozy, tasteful house (Bradley Kaye’s set is first-rate). Loretta’s soliloquy of despair when Dixie finally kicks off may be the play’s tritest scene. “You left me too soon!” she wails, tritely.

Prentiss and particularly Jens do creditable work, but their obvious belief in this play’s merits is puzzling. Susan Peretz’s direction is better in the scenes with Prentiss and Jens than in those with the full cast, which also includes Ellen Gerstein as the “spiritual” earth-mother maid, Virginia.

This was the one of the last productions L.A. theater and dance impresario James A. Doolittle worked on before his recent death, a fact we’ll pass along without comment.

Jump to Comments

Angel’s Share

Tiffany Theater; 99 seats; $25 top

  • Production: Southern California Theatre Assn. and MGR Prods. present a play in two acts by Casey De Franco. Directed by Susan Peretz.
  • Cast: Cast: Salome Jens (Loretta), Paula Prentiss (Dixie), Joan Sweeney (Eve), Erinn Strain (Lily), Ellen Gerstein (Virginia). Set, Bradley Kaye; costumes, Diana Eden; lighting, Lawrence Oberman; stage manager, Brigid O'Brien. Opened March 23; reviewed April 5; runs through May 18. Running time: 2 hours.

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9mhnqDjqWcoKGkZL%2BmwsierqxnkaO0priMrGSsoJGnsm59kGpubWtmbIJ4ew%3D%3D

 Share!