AS GOOD AS GOLD by Carol Kaufman Segal

    I had the good fortune to watch a number of performances by Theatre 40 on my computer in the past year-and-a-half.  However, I am pleased to be able to once again enjoy live performances by this theatre company now in their 55th season, the first production being a comedy entitled As Good As Gold by popular book author Marilyn Anderson.

    The play features three women, Maggie Carson (Marie Broderick), Karly De Haven (Nicola Victoria Buck), and Elaine Katz (Wendy Hammer), who are all screenwriters and very close friends.  They have become frustrated with the sexism in their field in Hollywood, and decide to do something about it.  Why not write a script featuring exciting action and featuring a very handsome, sexy man that all women would dream about - and written by - who else but Mr. Handsome, Sexy Man himself?  And they name him Adam Gold!

    So far, so good, but then they come upon a problem.  How will they manage to get a studio to know about the film, like it, and want to buy it?  As luck would have it, they accidentally come upon a  perfect young man named Jeffrey (Landon Beaty), who, at first, questions whether he is capable of handling such a job, but quickly decides (why not?) that he will do it.

    Well, Adam (as he is now known) turns out to be a perfect imposter and actually takes over as if he were really the one who wrote the film.  He is very successful in his new job and quickly takes complete control.  Now, where does that leave Maggie, Karly, and Elaine throughout the rest of the play?  I guarantee you, you will find out through a lot of laughable happenings to the end.

    Other members in the cast include Will Bradley (Lance), Chance Denman (Luke), and David Westbay (Ed Mansfield).  The play is directed by Roger K. Weiss.  The assistant director is Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, and the set design is by Jeff G. Rack.

    The play runs Thursday, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 PM, Sundays at 2 PM through October 17.  Admission is $35.  Reservations are available online at www.theatre 40.org or by phone at (310) 364-0535.  Theatre 40 is located in the Reuben Cordova Theatre, 241 S. Moreno Dr., Beverly Hills.

 

   Note:  My review of this production is based on seeing it as a prevue presentation.