Mask

Mask was a sucessful1985 movie about a teenager, Rocky Dennis, who has a disfiguring and degenerative bone disease and his pill- poppin momma, Rusty, as they struggle to have a “normal “ family life despite the doctor’s prognosis of Rocky having only a few months to live. This tearjerker was a highly successful vehicle for Eric Stoltz, Laura Dern, and the inimitable Cher. They say that truth is less believable than fiction and despite the fact that this story was based on real people it was not the easiest movie to sit through despite its stellar cast and uplifting message. Add music to the mix and believability is stretched too far but the result has some really positive aspects. The story still is mawkish but moving, the performances are terrific, and the music and the singers often soar.

Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (You’ve Lost That Lovin Feelin) have a catalogue of winning songs and the songs here are no exception. The bike anthem Look At Me as sung by the husky voiced Michael Lansing that purports the adventurous wonder of the open road could be a Kenny Rogers hit. Another showstopper is Rocky’s song Planet Volturn especially as sung by Allen E Read whose voice is reason enough to see the show the sweet duet between Rocky and his blind girlfriend (the lovely Sarah Glendening) is also hit worthy. Not all songs are winners though but as sung by this terrific cast they are worth the hearing. The problem is that several of them are delivered down center as in a concert and do nothing to further the action and only serve to tell us more about the character. This can make the show drag especially at its staggering two hour and forty -five minute length. 

The acting is also a mixed bag. While the principals are all quite good the chorus are often, well, chorusy. The scenes in the classroom are quite obnoxious and the scene with the doctor is gratuitous. Michele Duffy who was so good in Can-Can earlier this year impresses as the mother and has a great set of lungs. Greg Evigan has a nice easy style as Ricky’s on again off again lover and can sing a country song with the best of them. Still it is Allen Read’s Rocky who steals our hearts with his natural performance and emotive singing voice.

The sets by Robert Brill evoke California, the gorgeous sky with the power lines, palm trees and San Gabriel Mountains. The costumes, the lights are all good and the makeup by Michael Westmore (who also did the movie) is very effective for the stage and doesn’t seem to interfere with Rockie’s performance though it did evoke unfortunate comparisons to Beauty and the Beast. Richard Maltby keeps everything moving, and the book by Anna Hamilton Phelan, who also wrote the movie, is well written and even has quite a few laughs.

If bikers are your bag and you can buy the idea that bikers have found the way to a free life full of warmth and camaraderie, then Mask may be for you. Go see the performances, hear the terrific singing, see a star-making performance by Allen E. Read and be once again moved by the story of this courageous young man.  At the Pasadena Playhouse until April 13