It's a big step from the musical comedies that are Theater At The Center's usual fare to a gripping, tightly-written courtroom drama -- especially one set in so hyper-masculine an environment: A Few Good Men takes place at a court-martial hearing in response to a marine's death on the likewise tension-riddled site of Guantanamo Naval Base. Fortunately, director Kate Buckley is well acclimated to testosterone fumes; her credits include the award-winning Among The Thugs -- and, with the assistance of Keta Roth's armed-forces expertise, has drilled her cast into the picture of military discipline. For some the transformation is more difficult -- veteran musicom character actor Joel Hatch requires a few scenes to lose his civilian-CEO mannerisms to settle into proper megalomaniac stance, while die-hard ingenue Susan Hart never quite achieves the gravity becoming a high-ranking officer assigned to Washington DC.
As the brash attorney Kaffee, however, Ryan Kitley more than makes up for exposure lost in last season's Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, and the supporting cast's esprit de corps immerses us so thoroughly in this universe that we almost ourselves snap to attention on the soldiers' command.
No word yet on whether Theater At The Center will be essaying more straight plays to augment their roster of musicals, but this production amply fulfills the play that made a star of its author.
