Lovelace

One of the goodies Goldstar offered to insert their little badge on my blog was two free tickets to any show on their roster. CM and I browsed through the list, whittled it down to two shows, and forwarded them to their Marketing Department. Monday of last week, I received confirmaion in my email so last night, we had the pleasure of attending an experimental new rock opera, Lovelace.

(As in Linda Lovelace. But I'll get to that in a moment.)

Thanks to heavy traffic on the 101 freeway, we exited early and took a scenic drive through downtown L.A., passing the crowded Olvera Street and Chinatown, wandering past the Music Center and the MOCA, finally taking Wilshire Blvd. through MacArthur park and pulling into a lot beside The Hayworth Theater, located in a beautiful art deco building from the 1920s. The theater itself was small, with enough seating for about 99 people. CM and I sat near the back, and I almost slipped from the cushion as the chair reclined unexpectedly.

The stage was sparse, a few rasied platforms on the sides with bits of furniture and a large movie screen displaying a cover of Esquire with Linda Lovelace gracing the cover. Some 60s French pop tunes played over the loudspeakers as the remaining patrons arrived and filled every seat. The lights dimmed, the French pop morphed into a strong rock anthem of guitars and drums, the actors filed down the aisles and onto the stage....

At 19, young Linda Boreman becomes pregnant and has her child, singing about how much she loves the child and will be a good mother while her own mother tricks Linda into singing away her child to another family. This spurs Linda into running away from home and into the arms of Chuck Traynor, the slimy owner of a strip club who convinces Linda that he loves her, and the two wed. But Linda's happiness is soon shattered when Chuck plies her with drugs and forces her to have sex with other men. From that point on, her life becomes a haze of drugs and sex, culminating with the making of Deep Throat, the seminal pornographic film which turns her into an overnight sensation. But Linda longs for true love, children, the white picket fence and finally finds the courage to turn her back on the abusive Chuck and the porn industry.

Not what you would typically expect for a rock opera...or any opera for that matter. In fact, we weren't quite sure what to expect because of the subject matter, but Jeffrey Leonard Bowman's concept of a woman struggling against terrible odds, finally showing her strength and overcoming those obstacles was completely engrossing. Katrina Lenk's performance as Linda Lovelace was strong and compelling, even though I felt her voice wasn't strong enough until she let loose and belted a few songs. (CM disagreed with me on this, loving every minute of her performance.) Personally, I felt the three men in her life gave the strongest performances: Jimmy Swan as chuck Traynor, with a soaring rock and roll voice; Alan Palmer as Gerard who directed Deep Throat was hysterical; and Josh Adamson as Linda's co-star in Deep Throat. The entire cast, in fact, was amazing. And small, sublte touches enhacned the show, such as Lindsay (played by Sonya Bender), Linda's second child who stayed on stage for most of the show, reacting to what happened to her mother as if she were being told the story. The big standout, though, was most definitely the music: book, music and lyrics by Anna Waronker of the band That Dog and Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go's and lyrics also by Jeffrey Leonard Bowman. They wrote great rock songs that never stalled or faltered during the entire 90 minutes, fantastic rock anthems as well as comedic tunes to fit the pacing, and if a cast recording is ever released, I'll be the first in line to buy it.

CM and I discussed the show during the drive home, as we stopped at Hof's Hut for a late night hot fudge sundae and even today as we ran errands. To leave that kind of impression, the show has to be great.