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\u201cStereophonic,\u201d David Adjmi\u2019s heralded drama that won five Tony Awards including best play, is ready for its Los Angeles close-up.<\/p>\n
The first national tour production, which opened Wednesday at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, seems right at home in the music capital of the world. The play about a 1970s rock band on the brink of superstardom takes place in recording studios in Sausalito and L.A., where the Laurel Canyon vibe is never out of sight.<\/p>\n
The visual crispness of this L.A. premiere goes a long way toward dispelling doubts that the Pantages is the wrong venue for this ensemble drama. If there\u2019s a problem, it isn\u2019t the cavernousness of the theater. The production, gleaming with period details on a set by David Zinn that gives us clear views into both the sound and control rooms, comfortably inhabits the performance space, at least from the perspective of a decent orchestra seat.<\/p>\n
The play, which includes original music from Will Butler, the Grammy-winning artist formerly of Arcade Fire, has a sound every bit as robust as one of the blockbuster musicals that regularly passes through the Pantages. The songs, crushed by the actors at top volume, are Butler\u2019s indie rock re-creation of cuts for a part-British, part-American band that bears such a striking resemblance to Fleetwood Mac that a lawsuit<\/a> brought by a former sound engineer and producer of the group was eventually settled.<\/p>\n Adjmi, like Shakespeare, takes his inspiration where he finds it. And like the Bard, he makes his sources his own, alchemizing the material for novel ends.<\/p>\n The touring production of \u201cStereophonic\u201d makes clear just how integral the original cast was to the success of the play.<\/p>\n (Julieta Cervantes)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n Unfolding in 1976 and 1977, \u201cStereophonic\u201d offers a fly-on-the-wall perspective of a band at a crossroads. While recording a new album top-heavy with expectations, the group falls prey to romantic conflicts and self-destructive spirals, to toxic jealousies and seething insecurities. The prospect of fame magnifies pathologies that have been intensifying over time.<\/p>\n Diana (Claire DeJean) is the Stevie Nicks of the band. Beautiful, achingly vulnerable and awash in lyrical talent, she is entangled in a relationship with Peter (Denver Milord), the Lindsey Buckingham of the group, who strives for musical perfection no matter the cost.<\/p>\n Their connection is as professionally enriching as it is personally destructive. Diana\u2019s ambition is matched by her self-doubt. She\u2019s susceptible to a Svengali yet doesn\u2019t want anyone to tell her how to write her songs.<\/p>\n Peter, angrily competitive, can\u2019t help resenting the natural ease of Diana\u2019s talent, even as it\u2019s her song from their first album that has put the band back in the spotlight. His genius is ferociously exacting while hers seems to spring naturally from her soul.<\/p>\n Artistically they depend on each other, but the tension between them is unsustainable. And as the play makes clear, there\u2019s no way to keep their personal lives out of the studio.<\/p>\n DeJean and Milord are the most captivating performers in the ensemble. The other actors are solid but this touring production makes clear just how integral the original cast was to the success of the play.<\/p>\n