Undercover Romance: theater review

By Alex Chiang, staff writer
Monday, November 26, 2007

Undercover Romance, written by Bill Majeski and put on by the Fountain Valley High School theater production class, was a play with mixed vibes. On one hand, the actors and actresses showcased their characterization skills to create wild and memorable characters. On the other hand, the play was poorly written with uninteresting conflicts and too many unresolved plot points. Unfortunately, even the exceptional acting could not save the play from the script.

The cast put on an extremely unique performance. Lead actor Josh Dominic played a slick, laid-back romance writer with vigor and shine.   Erica Bryan brought life into the main character's love interest with great believability and sincerity.   Hannah Jones was the life of the show, playing a bent-back, raspy Aunt Peggy. Likable and laughable, it was always a joy to see her shuffle onto stage.  

The rest of the ensemble, Carisa Marino, Chris Guerrero, Randy Dudley, Brittany Woolsey, Logan Wagner, and Ben Paparella, played an ever-shifting cast of wild characters ranging from noble dukes to incompetent ninjas. Their quick costume and character changes were flawless as well as funny.   It was just as interesting to watch the minor cast members put on their mini acts as it was to follow the rest of the play.

Although the acting was fine, the main flaw of the play was the script itself.   It had introduced deep themes such as sensitivity and sexism early in the play yet failed to approve or disapprove of them in the end.   No major conflicts or problems appeared throughout the entire first act, and some minor conflicts, like Bartlett's writer's block and Berdoo's suspicion, ended up magically solving themselves in the last scene.   Minor events, such as the Supermodel Renaldo, were overly stressed, whereas larger portions of the story, like Bartlett's attraction for Elaine Hall, were given barely three minutes of stage time.  

The main conflict of the play was resolved with barely any conflict, making the story line uninteresting and boring.   The lack of development left only flat, stale, and static characters for the obviously much more talented actors.