Solid Gold Cadillac

Theater Review

R.M. Sydnor

         Solid Gold Cadillac, playing at Sierra Madre Playhouse, benefits from Ken Saltzman even direction and admirable dedication to the 1950s; however, this screwball comedy faces a sisyphean effort to overcome an all  too often worn out theme of Main Street versus Wall Street to make this populist parable fresh as a modern-day fairy tale.  This omnipresent motif demands a different perspective to gain the necessary comedic momentum and satiric bite.

         The George S. Kaufman and Howard Teichmann comedy of 1953, featuring an eccentric thespian Mrs. Laura Partridge who exposes the incompetence and corruption of the executives at mega-corporation where she owns stock, suffers from contrived plotting, scattershot gags, and woefully dated references.  Georgan George’s Partridge impresses by carefully avoiding the imitation of the nonesuch Judy Holiday (star of the movie version).  George sparkles with a kind of giddy, half-mad effervescence, always making sure to show hits of fangs behind an ineluctable charm.  The players Michael Bruce (Edward L. McKeever), Tony Cicchetti (Clifford Snell), Norman Igar (T. John Blessington), Sasha Goldberg (Sullivan, A.P.) and Melainie Rashbaum (Amelia Shotgraven) perform admirably and provides a measure of credibility.   Voiceover veteran Barry Schwam’s warm narration adds richness and entertainment to the proceedings.

         Solid Gold Cadillac has rusted badly over the last 50 years and should have faced the junk yard and wrecking ball long ago.  High time for a brilliant playwright to step-up and create an inventive comedy for this century.