The Happiest Song
Plays Last
Written by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Directed by Edward Torres
at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn (map)
thru May 12 | tickets: $14-$45 | more info
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World premiere has moments of beauty and passion
Goodman Theatre i/a/w Teatro Vista presents
The Happiest Song Plays Last
Review by Catey Sullivan
With The Happiest Song Plays Last, playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes pens the final chapter in her “Elliot” trilogy, returning the titular soldier to the Middle East this time not as a fighter but as a consultant on a movie being filmed in Jordan.
Directed by Edward Torres, The Happiest Song Plays Last explores parallel story lines that initially seem like two different plays entirely. The twined plotlines of Elliot’s adventures in Jordan and his cousin Yaz’ life as a neighborhood activist in North Philadelphia do eventually – if tenuously – unite. But The Happiest Song Plays Last feels incomplete nonetheless, a sometimes jarring draft of two dramas spliced together rather than a cohesive, unified whole.
Roughly half the piece takes place in Jordan, where Elliot (Armando Riesco) has been promoted from movie consultant to leading man after the film’s initial star fails to pass muster. He’s working with Ali (Demetrios Troy), an Iraqi who is serving as a guide and co-star Shar (Fawzia Mirza), a young American woman of Egyptian heritage. Meanwhile, back in Philly, Yaz (Sandra Marquez) is running a de facto soup kitchen out of her home, preparing for a neighborhood-wide Three Kings Party and exasperatedly dealing with her long-time friend Agustin’s (Jaime Tirelli) occasional, drunken brushes with the local law.
The intersection of lives occurs largely via Skype, with Elliot and Yaz conferring about their travails, triumphs and the minutia of everyday life. But that apparent minutia is fraught with larger significance, as Yaz ponders the possibility of becoming a first time mother and Elliot struggles to come to terms with his experiences fighting in the Middle East. It’s here that Hudes overreaches her effectiveness, spinning a story that takes on too much superficially.
Yaz’ enraged, passionate efforts at exposing the criminally shoddy health care provided by a nearby ER and her complicated decision to have a child come off as only the tip of an iceberg that remains primarily submerged in the production. The same superficiality marks Elliot’s spur-of-the-moment decision to visit Egypt in the midst of the Arab Spring uprising. These are fraught, intensely complex decisions on both characters’ parts, but in Hudes script, such life-changing choices are made with an almost cavalier impetuousness. The all-important, multi-layered “why” behind these actions remains largely unexplored.
 
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That said, Torres elicits fine performances from his small ensemble cast. As Yaz, Marquez captures the anger, frustration and biting humor of a woman who has made caring for others her life’s work. Riesco is marvelous as Elliot, veering from All-American goofball to deeply tormented PTSD survivor with rich authenticity. And as Shar, a woman who has long been ill-at-ease with her own Egyptian heritage, Mirza creates an alluring portrait of a woman who is at once strong-minded and intensely vulnerable. There is also able supporting work from James Harms as a mentally impaired homeless man Yaz informally adopts, and from Tirelli as an irresistibly charming rascal whose brushes with the bottle can’t contain his natural exuberance.
The piece is gorgeously punctuated by Nelson Gonzalez’ Jibaro music, haunting, stringed melodies providing an aural, atmospheric backdrop to the action in both Jordan and Philadelphia. In the end, The Happiest Song Plays Last is a production of considerable strengths and considerable drawbacks. But for all its flaws, there’s no denying the poetic, impassioned voice of the playwright. Hudes has a keen ear for dialogue and a gift for characterization. Here’s hoping she takes those gifts further in her next endeavor.
Rating: ★★½
The Happiest Song Plays Last continues through May 12th at Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn (map), with performances Tuesdays-Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays 2pm and 8pm, Sundays 2pm and 7:30pm. Tickets are $14-$45, and are available by phone (312-443-3800) or online through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at GoodmanTheatre.org. (Running time: 2 hours 25 minutes, includes an intermission)
Photos by Liz Lauren
artists
performers
Armando Riesco (Elliot), Sandra Marquez (Yaz), Fawzia Mirza (Shar), Jaime Tirelli (Joaquin), Demetrios Troy (Ali), James Harms (Lefty), Nelson González (musician)
behind the scenes
Edward Torres (director), John Boesche (projections), Collette Pollard (set), Christine Pascual (costumes), Jesse Klug (lighting), Ray Nardelli, Josh Horvath (sound design), Liz Lauren (photos)
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