"Ray Bradbury's Wisdom 2116" A spectacular, inspiring new musical!

--- Theatre review

It´s said that "Love covers a multitude of sins," and in Ray Bradbury´s witty new musical "Wisdom 2116" playing at the Fremont Centre Theatre, love blinds an aging couple´s eyes to each other´s faults and failures, wrinkles and sags, frail strength, balding pate and limp libido.

Mr. and Mrs. Wycherly are blissfully in love and have been through 40 years of married life. But as they see their vitality and beauty fading, they worry that the other will become disappointed and perhaps grow cold. Even more distressing: if one should die, who would "do" for the other?

They reveal these inner thoughts and worries in the delightful "Forty Years" number, even as their outer images, in bizarre wigs and makeup (everyone has a bar-code tattooed on his neck), are "framed" in off-kilter picture frames that follow their movements.

Following this, they each come up with an idea for the perfect anniversary gift (one that could only be possible in a futuristic Ray Bradbury story).

Separately and secretly they seek out a robot maker to build new and improved replicas of their younger selves. Mr. Wycherly (Rob Harryman) wants "a robot like a bull" to satisfy and fulfill his wife. Mrs. Wycherly (Lisa Morrice) wants her robot to be "a sexual volcano" with an intellectual, book-filled mind. (How like Bradbury!)

They go to Mr. Marionette (played by David Stoneman who shares the role with director and choreographer, Steve Josephson) who says that he sells life-size robots (never toys!) to meet everyone´s needs.

In the opening scene, Mr. Marionette plays a flute (a nod to the pied piper?) and lithe dancers (Anthony Scarano, Steve Josephson, Christine Reese, and Samantha Marcella) in diaphanous costumes flow from the ancient trunk on which he´d been sitting. (He also orchestrates miniature vignettes that tell the Wycherly saga, using the exquisitely crafted 'Czech Marionettes.')

Stoneman´s stature and stage presence totally captivates the audience. He has a way of peering into individual faces that draws us into the story and makes us "believe." A remarkable actor.

Now he parades his life-size marionettes in the marketplace for prospective customers, girls in skintight attire, boys shirtless, all in garish make up. These sleek, muscled, and shapely "dancer-bots" are breathtaking in their form and athletic skill. They mesmerize the audience with their fluid or syncopated movements and alternative interpretations of both modern dance and hip-hop. It is stunning choreography masterfully performed!

One at a time the Wycherly´s approach him with their special orders and he promises to build them "robots so full of pomp and flatteries that there´s scarcely room for batteries." When he's finished, the Bride and Groom bots are boxed and delivered to the Wycherly's.

On the appointed day, they open their "surprise" boxes. What follows is both amusing and poignant, for the young and virile or voluptuous replicas are not suited to their older, human versions.

While Mr. Wycherly struggles to "turn off" his brainy and robust mechanical lady (Jessie McLean), Mrs. Wycherly is being ravished and perhaps injured by her "stallion buck" (Steve Josephson). Mr. Wycherly longs for "the plain and gentle, the soft and sentimental," while Mrs. Wycherly yearns for the "comfortable and real," not the "sizzling ideal."

As they finally escape their younger selves and fall into each other's arms, they understand that the "mellow flavor" of their elder love is like "vintage wine" to be savored to the last drop.

"Wisdom 2116" is a sparkling new jewel in Ray Bradbury´s crown of stories and plays, as amazing and memorable as the Hope Diamond. A fantastical, feel-good, musical not to be missed.

"Wisdom 2116" plays Fridays & Saturdays at 8:00 pm and Sundays at 3:00 pm through Saturday, February 27, 2010.

General admission is $20. ($15 for seniors, $10 for students)

For info and reservations call (323) 960-4451 or visit www.Plays411.com/raybradbury

The FCT is located at 1000 Fremont Ave (at El Centro), So. Pasadena, CA 91030 (ample free parking)