“A Majority of One” with the incomparable Paula Prentiss (11-08)

 

 

 

“Majority of One”

 

 

Leonard Spigelgass’ “Majority of One”, now half a century old unfolds with few surprises and a few old-school, classic social lessons. But who cares when we’re watching Paula Prentiss starring and playing the mother-in-law of her real son, Ross Benjamin, opposite the stately Sab Shimono.  I was joined by the audience as I gasped when Benjamin first came on stage because he is Richard Benjamin, as congenial, intelligent and handsome, only a foot taller.

 

With the one change of Brooklyn Jewish widow Mrs. Jacoby (Paula Prentiss), being changed perhaps to a southern Mrs. Jacoby with a steel hand in a velvet glove, we’d be altogether happy.

 

Mrs. Jacoby, grieving over the loss of her son to the Japanese in World War II, finds herself living in Japan after her daughter Alice (Anya Profumo) and son-in-law Jerome (Ross) begin their new life in the foreign service.

 

By the time she crosses the ocean, she has demurely made friends with Japanese, Mr. Asano (Sab Shimono),  who is Jerome’s opponent to be.  And the plot goes predictably on from there.

 

The sugar coated issues of family ties, race and culture that follow apparently were easier to swallow 50 years ago by making the leading man Japanese (former enemy in WWII), but a Japanese gentlemen with impeccable manners and English who was  tall, dark, handsome, educated in Britain to boot – and wait, he’s a millionaire, too!

 

It is obvious that every character on stage is having a grand time, and it is contagious.  Director Salome Gens brings out the charm in every character, and the intimate theatre makes this a once in a lifetime experience be remembered. 

 

We also were lucky enough to be able to chat with Ms. Prentiss,  Southern and intelligent and warm as one could hope.   She told us, “ this stage idea is big and because the production is minimal in scenery and props, you have a real chance to reflect the past in a very strong manner. The immediacy in the play setting also allows the audience to be taken into the past with a grace.

 

“I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see the original stage version with Gertrude Berg but I’m really pleased that our Mr. Asano is a Japanese and not an actor pretending to be Japanese, as in the original, as professional as he may have been.  Mr. Simono is also an oh-so wonderful man in the lovely cast. 

 

“ Being on stage and having the audience react is one of the ways I prepare this role because the audience receives and gives back," reported Ms. Prentiss.  "And, of course,  the elements in the play are familiar… meeting someone and going against the grain."

 

She continues, “’Marjority of One’ presents a clear picture of what in 1959 was prejudice. And then you have people availing themselves to one another through loss.  My son said that  what the audience responds to is what the prejudice of that time and the feeling of that time, compared to now.   We go a long way from observing one of my neighbors moving out of the Brooklyn area of where ‘that element” is moving in’ and my character finally meeting a Japanese man.   The difference between theorizing it and striking home really come across.

 

Paula can relate her own family history to the play.  “My ancestors are Sicilian and they lived in a town with Irish, when the Irish were the minority!  It was a different kind of game of who looked down on who,” she laughs.  "My father was from Connecticut at that time and he met my mother in Washington, D.C.  She came from a long line of Daughters of the Revolution with ancestors fighting in the War of 1812 and in the civil war on both sides! 

 

“I also related to the women in the play,  who were part of the Jewish exodus from Russia and who have all the feelings of being an outsider.  The story really transports you back to people who were leaving to come here.   I was very stirred and very stunned by the story.  It’s a wonderful level to live on for the moment, when you are doing a play and living in the play, and the characters  let you in. “

 

What playing on the same stage with her son? “It’s fantastic to work with my children,” she says in her breathy, familiar voice.  She laughs.  Though you just have to step aside sometimes. “  

 

It was easier for Paula to prepare by reading Chaim potek who wrote “The Chosen” to get a feel for the neighborhoods in Brooklyn.   By the time the performances began, industious Paula had a good feel for the Zionist and the Anti-Zionist attitude as well.  “ I could even think of what it was like as a child for her.  When you read these books you know what it means to “observe.”…. and to know that everyone is human.”

 

Says Paula almost with glee.  “I love it that I have some expressions that the audience appreciates, and that you see and feel them appreciating when you are performing it!”

 

And without even asking about Richard Benjamin and their own marriage, Paula answers,  “When we were about to get married, I asked my husband  if I should convert. And he said, no.”

A MAJORITY OF ONE runs through December 14, 2008 at Pico Playhouse 10508 West Pico Blvd. LA, CA 90064.  Performances are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 2 pm.  Tickets are $35 and may be purchased by calling (800) 838-3006 or on line at www.westcoastjewishthetre