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| Debra Ehrhardt |
By Joe Straw
Sunday December 17, 2023, at 4:00 was unexpectedly a wild time at The Santa Monica Playhouse. During the performance, a couple sitting alone, off to the side, spoke with each other during the entirety of the performance. Not only were his words hearable throughout the night but his hands and arms stretched to accentuate his words explaining things to her as though she were partially deaf or blind, or both. And that woman, to his side, kept putting on her white frock, on and off, off and on, as though she were hot one minute and cold the next. This also happened throughout the performance. What they talked about was anyone’s guess. An audience member had enough, and she clapped her hands to quiet them, but they went on with little regard to her clapping. After the performance another patron went up to them and asked them why they did that throughout the performance. The man kept apologizing throughout his chastisement but offered no explanation.
Santa Monica Playhouse Benefit Series presents “Look What Fell Out De Mango Tree!!” written by Debra Ehrhardt and directed by Paul Williams.
This was a preview performance of a 2024 world premiere. Debra Ehrhardt came out and told the audience that Paul Williams, the director, required some rewrites so they would be on book for some of the performance. The rewrites seem to be moving the production in the right direction and the night was delightful.
There are some similarities to this production and 2009’s Jamaica Farewell most of all the alcoholic father. (https://joestraw9.blogspot.com/2009/10/jamaica-farewell-by-debra-ehrhardt.html) Has it been that long Debra?
Look What Fell Out De Mango Tree!! is poetry. The writing is, at times, crystal clear, as one imagines the Jamaican waters to be.
Everything is all so innocent, a happy childhood, and a dream to capture the biggest mango on the mango tree, a sudden fall, a pounding on the dirt below, and holding on to her dream with mango intact. But that dream was suddenly interrupted by an awakening with the cold hard facts of life – a father who was not that sympathetic to her pain, and a mango so filled with squirming larvae that it became an invidious moment in the life of a young girl.
And suddenly things start becoming clearer in life, about what life was all about, and how her father treated the family, sometimes with love, and other times not showing up at all, in the bar, gambling, losing all their furniture, until there was none. And although her love was apparent, her father missed all the important dates of her life, birthdays, graduations.
But still Debra had a dream, not entirely realized without a father figure, boys in her life coming and going until there was an assortment of a few in which to realize her dream. And yet she chose second best, maybe the wrong choice, the wrong bet which on her wedding day left her with child, a boy on the way, something this family of girls has never seen and certainly something that Debra was not prepared for.
In time, during her pregnancy, she has time to contemplate, her life, her mother and father’s lives, and the reasons for her being. How the stories came to her is a matter of conjecture, but they are hers and the events that make up her life.
So, near the end of her pregnancy and the no-show of her husband, something had to go, and it was the husband.
Now in America, trying to raise a son, and searching for a life partner. Nothing ever looks right, partners mostly, but she moves on until she finally discovers something about her life brought forth by her adult son and her long-lost father (both played by Christopher Grossett).
There is a lot to enjoy from Look What Fell Out De Mango Tree listening to someone’s life story. It is basically a one woman show with the interaction of a very lithe Christopher Grossett as all the male characters. All under the helm of composer, singer, songwriter Paul Williams, the director, who has made the effort of moving the play in the right direction. There are problems with the through line of the show, losing focus of a narrow path that should move the play in the direction it needs to go. At times, the play moves off in tangents before it finally gets to the point. But, when the point is made, it is beautiful.
In a one person show there must be a reason for telling the story. It’s either an awakening or a confessional. And if it’s an awakening, it culminates in the one moment that illuminates the story in the teller’s journey. There is that moment in this play, but one feels getting there must lie, both physically and mentally, within the heart of the player. The line must be clearer and the focus just.
This is a work in progress for Debra Ehrhardt and progress will come with development. It is at times, rich and beautiful, funny and sad, remarkable in ways that give and take in a unique theatrical experience. In its uniqueness, there are undeniable realities that everyone can relate to which makes this a fantastic experience.
Christopher Grossett
Christopher Grossett manages to play all the male characters and does extremely well in this outing, from a young boy to adult males with various degrees of maleness throughout complete with the facetious smiles of engagement.
Theatres all over Southern California are still recovering from the pandemic and Chris Decarlo, on this night, gave a passionate speech for a call to help The Santa Monica Playhouse through donations. Please give when and if you are able.