Playwright: Clifford Odets. At: Griffin Theatre Company at Theater Wit, 1229 W. Belmont Ave. Tickets: 773-975-8150 or www.griffintheatre.com; $28-$33. Runs through: April 6
Clifford Odets' classic 1937 drama Golden Boy is about a gifted violinist who gives up music so he can get rich quick as a prizefighter. That leap from artist to bruiser might seem to strain dramatic credibility.
However, looking at that transition symbolically, or what was happening in Odets' own life at the time ( the struggling playwright of left-wing political works like Waiting for Lefty and Awake and Sing! was suddenly flush with loads of Hollywood cash ), Golden Boy can be seen more as a meditation on the pressures of success and heightened expectations. Golden Boy also explores all the people who start to feed off of a celebrity like a precious meal ticket.
This makes Golden Boy, now receiving a good production by Griffin Theater, feel relevant in our age of instant reality TV celebrities who believe that fame and money will bestow respect and esteem. And that's despite the hard-boiled, easily spoofed New Yorker accents the majority of the cast sport for their characters.
Despite the decision to keep two intermissions for this three-act play, Golden Boy still moves fleetly along under Jonathan Berry's direction ( and the running time of two hours and 45 minutes breezes by ). Set designer Dan Stratton aids with the transitions with translucent sliding panels ( which allow for some good silhouette effects ) and door frames that evoke gym windows or tenement rooftops, while Mieka van der Ploeg helps keep things rooted to the play's era with effective period costumes.
The large cast is fine and frequently cast with distinctive actors who fit the look of their characters just right. ( The great interplay between David Cady Jr. as the trainer Mickey and Connor McNamara as the cocky fighter Pepper is a prime example. ) Yet I got the sense on opening night that all these hard-working actors hadn't quite clicked as an organic acting ensemble just yet. Perhaps it was nerves ( and the weight of maintaining their tough-guy accents ), or maybe they needed a few more performances to get under their belts.
Still, there were many notable performances. Top of the list is Nate Santara as the title golden boy fighter, Joe Bonaparte. Santana's seething and scrappy take on the role clearly showed off his character's boiling drive for success and respect at all costs. Also heart-wrenching as Joe's Italian immigrant father was Norm Woodel, who honestly shows all the disappointment and bewilderment at seeing his artistic son turn so angry and violent.
So even if the symbolic plot and Depression-era accents could be seen as laughable on the surface, Golden Boy still delivers a relevant dramatic punch for today. And Griffin Theatre gamely shows that it's willing to go down to the mat with it.