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Heckart is sharp and amusingly condescending to Luke as he records her recollections, especially when he pushes for details on Monroe, whom she mysteriously hesitates to discuss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But as Heckart opens up, we get dramatized flashbacks of the two women, made engaging in large part due to Soper\u2019s enthralling performance as Monroe (whom she has portrayed more than once before), impeccably capturing the actress\u2019s womanly physique, girlish facial expressions and deceptively childlike voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jacquelin Lorraine Schofield and Noah Wagner play several surrounding characters solidly, including stressed \u201cBus Stop\u201d director Joshua Logan, acting coach Paula Strasberg and even singer Ella Fitzgerald, whom Schofield portrays with warmth and grounded presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Support arts & culture coverage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Long Beach is home to a vibrant community of people who celebrate culture through art. Their stories deserve a platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Costumer Kimberly DeShazo has Monroe in a tight pencil skirt and high heels in the first act (all the better to wiggle in), a sparkling champagne dress and white stole in the second \u2014 all of which Soper wears like second skin. Soper\u2019s performance is especially nuanced in the second act, such as a moment when Monroe addresses the audience of a nightclub to support Fitzgerald as a Black performer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Heckart relates her experiences with Monroe while working on the film \u2013 including how she played with Heckart\u2019s young sons, celebrated Heckart\u2019s birthday and maintained her poise even in a dangerously unruly crowd \u2013 we learn how the friendship touched a deep chord in Heckart and, movingly, how much Monroe also meant to Luke as a young child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rohan inhabits Luke well, both as an adult and growing up under his mother\u2019s critical gaze. Luke\u2019s early acting endeavors elicit endless notes from Heckart, to the point of making him cry, and his homosexuality becomes a further point of contention between them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While the story is rich with emotion, staging retains the feeling of a workshop, especially the first act, which perhaps makes sense since Yankee\u2019s play has enjoyed previous success in staged readings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Set design (Dan Volonte) is relatively simple \u2013 a couple of chairs and a few props, with only digitally projected backgrounds to evoke locations such as Heckart\u2019s home, a Hollywood studio and a hotel suite in Phoenix, Arizona, where the women travel for filming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Luke and Eckhart also sit during most of their conversations, facing the audience more than interacting with each other, as do Eckhart and Monroe in flashback. Perhaps as a result, the story seems to take a while to rev up, though that does allow time to get to know the characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Act 2, though, the story flows more fluidly and becomes wonderfully immersive. The relationships between Heckart and Monroe and Luke and Heckart develop meaningfully, revealing insights about each character. The conclusion, though somewhat drawn out, weaves those threads together in an emotionally satisfying way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMarilyn, Mom, & Me\u201d is the kind of Hollywood story that could only be told by someone who lived it. Yankee has crafted a beautiful tale from his and his mother\u2019s experiences, embracing the sensitivities of three human beings while touching on issues of feminism, race and gay acceptance. Kudos to ICT for staging this not-to-be-missed world premiere \u2013 right here in Long Beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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