Ron Hutchinson's comedy "Moonlight and Magnolias" wavers between broad humor and conversational wit without quite succeeding on either front.
The Alaska premiere of the 2004 play, now under way at Anchorage Community Theatre, features a competent cast, directed by Krista Schwarting, and an opulent set by Brian Saylor, but doesn't advance the script past the ranks of a light entertainment that may appeal most to movie buffs.
The plot involves an allegedly true story about how producer David Selznick (Kevin Bennett) locked himself in a room with screenwriter Ben Hecht (Ryan Massey) and director Victor Fleming (Chris Mello) to hammer out the script for "Gone with the Wind" in five days.
Control-fiend Selznick, frantic after suspending the shooting of his big budget film, bullies and cajoles Hecht into pecking out dialogue that Hecht finds hopelessly tacky. Since Hecht is the one person in America who hasn't read the book, Selznick pulls Fleming off the set of "Wizard of Oz" to perform scenes from the book with him while Hecht types out the action.
The recurring theme is the creative process and what makes it happen. Is it the writer who provides the words, the director who coordinates putting those words on film in an effective manner, or the deal-maker, the man who pulls the money together and takes a chance on an idea? In this "Moonlight" resembles the ruminations in Richard Strauss' talky opera "Capriccio," but without the sopranos.
(The one female role, Selznick's secretary Miss Poppenghul, has limited go-fer duties, but Annia Wyndham makes the most of the small part.)
No sopranos, but the males come off as a trio of divas nonetheless, with larger-than-life, over-the-top portrayals -- particularly Bennett. Maybe a little too large for the tiny ACT studio space. The characters are presented with manic energy and the action includes slapstick -- hurling peanuts, mutual slap-fests -- in addition to the overtly silly bits in which Selznick channels Scarlett and coaches Fleming through the childbirth scene.
Other themes dawdle around the outskirts, notably each man's past-driven doubts. Selznick smarts over his father's bankruptcy; Fleming doesn't want to go back to being a chauffeur; Hecht broods over his fears that America might someday deport its Jewish citizens back to Hungary.
How they overcome these doubts is not clear, but they do, even if they proceed mainly by bashing their own and each other's heads against a wall until the wall finally crumbles -- then forgetting about the toil and tumult behind them.
After all, tomorrow is another day.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com