"Moonlight and Magnolias" - reviewed at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre

I enjoyed Atlanta's Alliance Theatre's "Moonlight and Magnolias" last night. The 4 member cast is Equity and they are all excellent. Thomas Sadoski plays Hollywood Mogul David O. Selznick, David Pittu is Screen Writer Ben Hecht, Kevin O'Rourke is Director Victor Fleming, and Tess Malis Kincaid is Miss Poppenghul, Selznick's secretary. Excellent direction of this play was provided by Lynne Meadow, the Artistic Director of the Manhattan Theatre Club, who recently presented this show in New York. The show itself is good - but I think it should have been even better considering its source material. The premise is that Hollywood producer David O. Selznick halts production on the filming of "Gone With the Wind" and brings in Ben Hecht to fix / rewrite the screenplay and Victor Fleming (who he has on contract and removes from the set of the almost completed "Wizard of Oz" movie) to direct "Gone With the Wind". He locks everyone in his office with the agenda of getting a reworked screenplay in just 5 days. If this is not successful, Selznick fears that his career will be through. The catch is that Ben Hecht has not read the epic Margaret Mitchell novel. Selznick and Fleming have to act out the major portions of the novel's storyline to Hecht. Hecht is hesitant about the project and thinks that the film won't be a success because of it's dated subject matter. This is where I feel that the play gets too mired down in issues of political correctness. Too much time is spent on Scarlett slapping her maid Prissy and whether Selznick, as a Jewish person (like Hecht), shouldn't be more concerned with Hitler and impending war in Europe rather than making a picture with a flippant heroine set in the Civil War time frame. Because so much time is spent focusing on these two particular issues, many other important pieces of the GWTW storyline are left out completely. That said, the dialogue of this play is well delivered in a comedic fashion. The set is gorgeous and the lighting designer did a great job, also. A nice touch was the playing of screentests of a variety of folks auditioning for parts (mostly Scarlett wanabees) before the play started. Vivian Leigh was so superior to the likes of Paulette Goddard and Lana Turner that it wasn't even a close match. As a fan of GWTW and a person who has lived in Atlanta for most of my life, I think it was important for me to see this play. "Moonlight and Magnolias" was enjoyable, but I'm sorry that Ron Hutchinson's writing wasn't as good as it should have been.

I'd rate "Tick Tick Boom" as the superior show running at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre this month.

Emcee - You are right - it was funny - but COULD and SHOULD have been better - with the amazing amount of source material from the GWTW novel.

The show wasn't sold out. I think if it was better, "Moonlight and Magnolias" would do better in Atlanta. "The Color Purple", in its premiere here at the same theatre last year, sold out its entire run.

Thanks for your review. Very well written.