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References To Salvador Dali Make Me Hot |
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Author: Jose Rivera
Reviewer: David Roberts for Theatre Reviews Limited |
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At the end of Jose Rivera's brilliant new play "References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot" Gabriela (Rosie Perez) asks her husband Benito (John Ortiz) "Did you see the moon last night? I really need to know this, Benito. I really have to know." Gabriela has been waiting for her life-long soldier husband Benito to return from his latest field assignment, waiting to see if there is any passion left in their relationship, waiting to see if there is any love left in their crisis-ridden marriage.
  
Wherever they were at the time of their courtship and marriage, whoever they were at that time, they are no longer the same when we meet these star-crossed lovers in their poured concrete home in the desert of Barstow, California a few months after the Persian Gulf War. Benito wants to continue his commitment to the armed services until he can retire, satisfied with a few moments of passion with his wife every few months. Gabriela is ready to leave Benito and the desert-like relationship their marriage has become. She wants to earn more than minimum wage. She wants to learn, to grow, to think, to become.
Gabriela, in short, has experienced the call of the Moon (Michael Lombard), the Coyote (Kevin Jackson), the Cat (Kristine Nielsen), and the adrenaline of the adolescent Martin (Carlo Alban) and, like any and all references to the essence of Salvador Dali, these (collectively) have made her "hot." Her passion for life and love and meaning have been revived and she needs to know whether or not Benito can somehow be in synch with her rediscovered self.
Rivera's perfectly constructed play leads the audience though the minefield of Gabriela's quest for self acceptance and acceptance from her estranged husband. The reality of their relationship coexists seamlessly with the surreal nature of her longing, her dreams, her fantasies. There is no time when even the most perceptive audience member can determine whether what is "happening" on the stage is present reality, or fantasy, or dream. And a person playing a cat is not the sure sign of fantasy one might think.
Neil Patel's set successfully matches Gabriela's stark search for existential harmony. The poured concrete, tomb-like home accommodates the buried emotions of this couple's marriage and their individual secrets. These now faulty feelings await an Easter dawn resurrection, a life-affirming passing over of the remnants of their relationship. Even the vegetation (cactus, birds of paradise, aloe) is spiny, dangerous, succulent, not needing water.
Indeed, the only sign of life might be Patel's high-voltage power line which at least transports something able to start the compressor in a refrigerator or cast some incandescent light on a relationship gone awry. And Jo Bonney's direction makes all of Jose Rivera's splendid writing work like the charm it is. As out-of-synch Gabriela's and Benito's relationship is, so in-synch is the work of the creative team of this production.
The cast is, without exception, radiant. At no point does anyone betray the fine line each walks between that which is real and that which is surreal. The inventory taken on stage of why we are all here becomes the inventory of the audience. Effortlessly, this cast transfers Mr. Rivera's agenda to the collective agenda of the audience and the passion-starved culture it shamelessly represents.
The only pity here is that the run of "References" is so short. See it while it lasts.
Reviewed on Sunday April 8, 2001
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By Jose Rivera. Directed by Jo Bonney. Scenic design by Neil Patel; costume design by Clint E. B. Ramos; lighting design by David Weiner; sound design by Donald DiNicola and Obadiah Eaves; original music by Carlos Valdez; production stage manager, Mike Schleifer. Presented by The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (George C. Wolfe, Producer; Fran Reiter, Executive Director; Rosemarie Tichler, Artistic Producer) at The Public's Shiva Theater, 425 Lafayette Street. Performance schedule: Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 p.m. through Sunday, April 22, 2001. Tickets are $45.00 and are available at the box office, on line at www.publictheater.org or by clicking on "Purchase Tickets" above.
WITH: Carlo Alban (Martin), Kevin Jackson (Coyote), Michael Lombard (Moon), Kristine Nielsen (Cat), John Ortiz (Benito), and Rosie Perez (Gabriela).
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