The year is 1973, and the run-down Hotel Baltimore isn’t the only thing that’s in a state of decay. This crumbling former treasure is a metaphor for America itself.
Disillusionment over Watergate, anger over Vietnam, the proliferation of protest and the emergence of feminism has uncertain Americans running for conflict — or cover.
With the floodgates of divorce about to open, the American family as we knew it was about to implode as surely as this seedy flophouse that now faces imminent demolition.
“Family” has been undergoing a redefinition in this country ever since. And Lanford Wilson saw it coming.
His celebrated slice-of-life play, “Hot L Baltimore” (the title refers to the burned-out “e” in the marquee) introduces a quirky collection of hardheaded and soft-hearted outcasts who occupy a dilapidated long-term hotel. In one day, these prostitutes and other wayward souls will come to encapsulate all the melancholy, anger and self-destruction of the day.
And they make up something of their own family. They come from, and represent, every corner of America. We don’t know where all they’ve been, and they don’t know where they’re going. But as sure as Anatevka, the only home they have left is about to go boom.
“Good,” says old Mr. Morse (Joey Wishnia), without consideration of consequence. The future is uncertain, but who cares? Just tear it down.
We’re in Baltimore, which, we’re told, was once the most beautiful city in America. “But every city in America used to be the most beautiful city in America,” says aging hooker April (Catherine di Bella). We could be anywhere. We are everywhere.
This is a play laced with heartache and hostility, and it’s getting a significant, environmentally staged revival in the lobby of the Barth Hotel in LoDo. The Barth is an assisted-living facility for hard-luck seniors that provides the kind of realistic atmosphere no theater could replicate. The entire run is a benefit for Senior Housing Options.
There’s something visceral and adventurous about watching this story play out where it lives, with its natural lighting, simultaneous action and overlapping dialogue. And its few minor regrets — a geographically themed sound track set to eardrum-blasting levels, and an 8:30 p.m. start that means an 11 p.m. curtain. But there’s good reason for that last one: The play can’t interfere with the administering of meds to Barth residents.
Terry Dodd, who first staged this play at the Barth in 1991, has assembled an impressive ensemble of the familiar (Judy Phelan Hill and Patty Mintz Figel), the promising (Robin Wallace) and the new (Kimberly Nicole’s Denver debut bodes great things). Each performance includes cameos by notable names playing a hooker’s john and a cab driver.
It’s filled with heartfelt performances that land with varying degrees of emotional impact. The core character is a teen hooker with a heart of Huckleberry (Finn). She’s named, well, she hasn’t yet decided. She’s talkative, well-traveled and endlessly curious. Wallace is always pleasing in this pivotal role, but needs more levels. Her character is kind to all, including a stranger (Brian J. Brooks) desperate to find his grandfather one minute, oddly disinterested the next.
There’s a radical environmentalist (Laura Lounge) who one minute is as fiercely protective of her brother (Brian Kusic) as George is to Lenny in “Of Mice and Men”; in the next, she abandons him.
Figel is the delightfully decent and a bit wacky retiree Millie; Hill the agonizing Mrs. Bellotti, who’s come to beg the tough-guy manager (Joe Wilson) to allow her evicted, psych-job son to move back in. Nicole plays a diva whore with very bad judgment.
While most writers lay the responsibility for the inequity of the American Dream on forces beyond their control, Wilson, without comment, puts it at the feet of his dreamers. This deeply human, evidently flawed and self-destructive hodgepodge of downtroddens might have a chance, but like a lot of us, are either the recurring victims of their own bad choices or ruled by poisonous emotions.
The environmentalist imagines a plentiful, natural farm in Utah, but she’s dumbly bought her land off the radio. When the grandson gets close to finding his grandpa, he takes off in the other direction. These people are either on the run from happiness, or blindly running headstrong into a false end.
It all leads to a necessarily unsatisfying end. These people are going, all right. They just aren’t going anywhere.
John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com
“The Hot L Baltimore” *** (out of four stars)
Environmentally staged drama. Entire run is a benefit for Senior Housing Options. Barth Hotel, 1514 17th St. Written by Lanford Wilson. Directed by Terry Dodd. Starring Robin Wallace. Through Aug. 24. 8:30 p.m.today, July 28 (sold out), also Thursdays-Saturdays and Aug. 24. $50-$100. 303-595-4464, ext. 10, or .
