Even avid theatergoers would struggle to recall a more unappealing protagonist than the one at the center of Bernard Slade’s “Tribute.”
Fortunately, he and his fellow characters are fleshed by a terrific cast under skilled direction in this production by Surf City Theatre Co. through May 3 at Second Story Theatre in Hermosa Beach.
Slade created Scottie Templeton in this 1978 play, and his creation is resolutely a product of that era. Yes, Scottie, a showbiz veteran, is whip-quick with the one-liners. However, his relationships — with his family, close friends and himself — seem to range from paper-thin to reprehensible. And the audience is expected to laugh with him.
Scottie’s first wife, Maggie, couldn’t take his philandering and divorced him, causing estrangement between Scottie and their son, Jud. As a result, Jud suffered greatly, including a bout with stuttering. Here, arriving at Scottie’s, he’s an intensely straight-laced young man who plans to use his Ph.D. to teach history.
Nowadays, an audience looks at Jud and sees a responsible citizen embarking on a noble career, who held himself together despite his father. In the 1970s, however, Jud would have represented the establishment, “the man,” the comic relief in the middle of a comedy.
Yes, this play is a comedy. And this production provides giggles and guffaws aplenty. It also might make its audience proud of the changes in society in the past 40 years or so. We might no longer applaud a father who foists his inamorata on his son for the “experience” — who unapologetically objectifies all women, including his stern but devoted physician.
At about the 45-minute mark in this play, it’s clear Scottie isn’t going to have a character arc, though we may hear confessions and explanations. So it seems to be up to Jud to have an arc.
And he seems to have one. Slade doesn’t provide anything huge, except at the play’s end when Jud begins to be the funnyman to his father’s long-delayed role as a straight man.
Fortunately, director Perry Shields enriches the script, creating a world in which his actors can show pain without destroying the comedy.
As Scottie, Luke Adams has a thoroughly appealing presence even as an unappealing character. His comedic delivery is flawless, and yet he gives a portrayal so realistic that the audience may forget this is a play.
Playing Jud, Sanford Reed gives the hard-shelled young man rich dimensionality. Reed’s Jud wants desperately to be more like his father, though hopefully not as much a blithe consumer of compliant women.
Ex-wife Maggie is given a lovely, sympathetic portrayal by Hillary Weintraub. On the night reviewed, the actor had to hold for audience laughter following Scottie’s lines. She smoothly managed to find business and “think” of Maggie’s response each time.
Ashley Scharf plays the perky young woman thoughtlessly used by Scottie, though in Scharf’s hands she’d be far too smart for that in the new millennium. Robert Amberg is Scottie’s faithful colleague.
Melody Cohen plays Dr. Gladys, determined to help Scottie through what may be his last crisis. A hilarious moment, best left vaguely described as a house call, is provided by Regan D. Floria in a bit worthy of any vaudeville stage.
Shields’ staging is remarkably natural — even though, per the script, characters amazingly keep showing up at Scottie’s home when the plot requires them, some of whom must ring the doorbell at the locked door while others can wander in inopportunely.
Artistically, this production re-creates 1978 to perfection. Set design and set dressing, by Lisa Leonard, includes a dial phone in classic beige and a then-state-of-the-art cassette player. Costuming, by Diana Mann, aptly includes embroidered jeans, polyester slacks, pastel sport coats and an enviable selection of business suits for the ever-off-duty Dr. Gladys.
Dany Margolies is a freelance writer.
