“Born Yesterday”: This Driftwood Players production is a show for anyone who likes dark comedies, dirty politics and downright darling underdogs.
The darling in this story is the pretty but naive Billie Dawn, who has been the mistress of corrupt millionaire Harry Brock for 10 years.
Brock is about to embark on a big business deal in D.C. but considers Billie Dawn’s ignorance a political embarrassment. Brock decides to hire a journalist to educate his lovely liability.
But this is where Billie Dawn smartens up fast.
“It’s kind of hard to tell if she’s not smart or never tried to use her brain before and now she starts absorbing stuff like a sponge,” director Scott Randall said. “She has this childlike innocence and when the play’s over, she is coming out a winner.”
Randall said the play is billed as a comedy but has lots of dramatic moments and a dash of cheesiness. It was written in 1946 but parallels several current political themes.
None of the characters are two-dimensional but come layered with lots of texture and complexity, said Randall, whose favorite is Ed Devery, once a hotshot assistant attorney general and now Brock’s attorney.
“He’s a has-been,” Randall said. “He’s not an individual thinker but kind of a scumbag. But as Billie gets to questioning what is going on, Ed starts questioning what he’s doing and what is right.”
“Born Yesterday” opens at 8 tonight at Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St., Edmonds. Shows are at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through June 26.
Tickets are $23 and $20. Call 425-774-9600 or online to www.driftwoodplayers.com.
“Metamorphoses”: Some say change is good.
In the play “Metamorphoses,” change can take many forms: good, bad and otherwise.
Whidbey Island Center for the Arts explores this concept of change by presenting Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of Ovid’s epic poem “Metamorphoses.”
The poem is based on myths many thousands of years old and each vignette is about changes related to love, Zimmerman said.
The play is set in and around a large pool of water — more than 5,000 gallons — as a symbol of how change can transform a swimming pool into an ocean in the imagination, according to information about the show.
Zimmerman won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director for “Metamorphoses.”
“Metamorphoses” opens at 7:30 tonight at WICA, 565 Camano Ave., Langley.
Shows are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday through June 25.
Ticket prices range from $12 to $16. Call 360-221-8268, 800-638-7631 or at www.WICAonline.com.
Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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