Smoke and Mirrors was a hit for Florida Studio Theater’s 2000 summer season, but over two decades later one of its two authors has died and so has the play’s former novelty. Neither remaining writer Will Osborne nor FST director Catherine Randazzo with her excellent cast have been able to make the play work as successfully with a change of time frame and of character development. Everything takes too long to get even close to as funny as it was, and much about the staging just puzzles.
The basic plot: film director Hamilton Orr (a commanding, decisive Ben Cherry) wants complete control over a film as opposed to its story creator and script writer Clark Robinson (portrayed sympathetically by Alberto Bonilla). Clark’s been having an affair with the director’s actress-wife Barbara (beautiful, slick Alanna Smith). She seems ready to favor whichever man wins control and shares it with her. Hamilton particularly dislikes having Derek Coburn (Jack Gerhard, a hammy but handsome hunk) as the film’s hero. Director Orr enlists the writer’s help in getting rid of Derek. The resulting murder brings in a rather dopey local Sheriff investigator (silly Justin Ness) whose name, Leroy Lumpkin, certainly fits him metaphorically.
The mystery: Who is the murderer who gets punished, which lovers end up with each other, and who gets control of the film?
Staging here is itself mysterious. FST’s program indicates action takes place in a beach house of a Mississippi governor (Who? What does a governor have to do with the play?) on a private coastal island. It seems to be owned or at least rented by the director but its purpose is not clear, although it may be a place to be used for filming. Further, the set is one of the most detailed the Curley-Clays have ever designed for FST, but much of the furnishing isn’t used (e.g., the fireplace and chairs in front of it). It is loaded with heads of stuffed animals, obviously trophies, but whose? And what’s their import to the plot of the mystery?
The production begins with grand music that just seems to fade, whereas the lighting changes are pronounced and useful throughout. Even night scenes are never obscure.
Costumes consist of current clothing appropriate for the characters, especially the skimpy beach outfits for the actress and briefs that sexy actor Derek changes into on the spur of a moment. There are enough props to keep a Stage Manager busy—like a jar of pickles with little purpose and a suddenly produced notarizing device that’s both necessary and gets a good audience reaction.
Perhaps the best thing to say about the play today is that it does give actors a chance to shine. At FST, they do.
