Review: Vig
The Road Theatre Company, 14141 Covello St. #9-D, Van Nuys, 818-785-6175
by Barry Williams
The Road Theatre Company has premiered a new play in a new space in Van Nuys and it is definitely worth seeking out. The world premiere of Paul Hapenny’s Vig is the sort of stage play that resonates as it unfolds, possesses a vibrancy that shakes the audience’s emotions hours after leaving the theatre. This Vig has strong performances, wonderfully drawn, in-depth characters and a climactic sequence that puts you on the edge of your seat.
Vig is the story of a group of characters that inhabit a bar in a predominantly Irish neighborhood/northern suburb of Boston. The central character, and owner of the particular bar, is Vinny Glynn (Tom Finnegan), an aging WWII Marine war hero that has been running a moderately successful drinking establishment/bookie operation for many years. It is important to note that Vinny is no Sam Malone and this vehicle is the antithesis of “Cheers.” These Beantown characters are more grittily realistic than any of the winsome and cavalier “Cheers” bunch. The bar patrons of Vinny Glynn grapple with vice dependency, alcoholism and gambling addictions. With these negative threads tying their disparate lives together, the play is ripe with conflict and it is not long into Act One before it is obvious that the tensions are mounting.
When a young, streetwise, cocaine-snorting heavy, a Mafioso character appropriately named Tony Cicero (David Gianopoulous), is put in charge of Vinny’s book and starts working out of Vinny’s back room, the play really takes off. Frankie Petersen (Dan Butler) makes a $5,000 bet that serves as the major plot catalyst of the play. When he loses the bet and cannot hope to pay it off, the other characters surrounding him are also pulled into Frankie’s dilemma. Under the “new regime” of Tony Cicero, a large, unpaid bet does not go unnoticed and Frankie and friends must suffer the consequences. It is this tension that drives the play’s electric second act to its inevitable conclusion.
Vig is a play that is chock full of fine performances and the actors’ choices with their individual character decisions that complement Paul Hapenny’s script beautifully. There are some fine small, subtle moments such as Ellen Glynn’s (Vinny’s wife) monologue to her friend MaryBeth Petersen (Taylor Gilbert) about the loss of a child early in her relationship with Vinny. As portrayed by Sheila Ferrini, Ellen is a woman of strong conviction concerning her husband and Ferrini provides a solid, well-rounded, compassionate performance.
As Vinny Glynn, Tom Finnegan turns in an alternately dramatic/comic performance as the ringmaster of libations, bets made and waged and precisely who has to pay the vig. Finnegan drives the play forward with a rhythmic sense of his character’s destiny and is fully in sync with the pathos of Vinny’s life and those around him. Dan Butler is excellent as the forlorn, alcoholic/gambler Frankie Petersen. Butler plays his character’s sober-to-down-and-out deterioration with a tragic, believable performance that is always interesting to watch.
However, the real, explosive performance here is David Gianopoulous’ Tony Cicero. Gianopoulous works his way through Hapenny’s script with a low-rent bombast that gives the play the dangerous edge that it really needs to work. Gianopoulous’ Tony Cicero begins as a sleazy, crass, well-manicured Mafioso who views Vinny’s operation as more of a distraction than anything else. By play’s end, Gianopoulous has developed Tony into a drug-snorting, perverse, out-of-control megalomaniac that forces the hand of all around him. This Tony Cicero is a mean-spirited, slightly off-center two-bit junkie hood and Gianopoulous made the audience both laugh and cringe in a role that is quite demanding. A powerhouse acting turn for Gianopoulous.
The supporting players are all consistently good and believable. Gordon Pinkney (Phil Morrison) and Jimmy Clarke (Angie Costello) are part of the elbow-benders of the bar, providing appropriate local color and plot support. Michael Dempsey as the comically addled Rocky Dukes is very amusing in his self-absorbed and misguided fashion. Kent Minault provides an icy malevolence as Pete Dluca, the Mafioso “friend” of Vinny Glynn, who is Tony Cicero’s uncle and the man responsible for bringing Cicero into Vinny’s bar.
The show, as masterfully directed by Brad Hills, is taut and well-paced. Director Hills and Playwright Hapenny have provided their actors with an extraordinary dramatic framework from which to energize and present their portrayals. This is a must-see on your L.A. weekend play circuit.♦