Seared – Directed by Victoria Gruenberg. Scenic Design by Anya Klepikov; Stan Mathabane Sound Design by Stan Mathabane; Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson; Costume Design by Kathleen Doyle. Presented by Gloucester Stage Company at Windhover Center for the Performing Arts, 257R Granite St, Rockport, MA through August 22
by Mike Hoban
It’s an age-old question. Does making money and achieving a degree of fame from one’s chosen art form somehow diminish the art itself? If your name is Harry, the gifted chef in Theresa Rebeck’s entertaining comedy Seared, the answer is a resounding ‘YES’. After winning praise from New Yorker magazine for a particularly inventive and mouthwatering scallop dish that is boosting business at his struggling restaurant, Harry (James Louis Wagner) immediately goes full-on diva, refusing to make the meal for customers because (ostensibly) the quality of said mollusks at the fish market fail to meet his lofty standards.
Harry’s stance bedevils his beleaguered business partner Mike (Matt Monaco), who has had enough of Harry’s behavior as well as the endless hours and sleepless nights of operating a new-ish (2.5 years) boutique restaurant, so he enlists the aid of a consultant to help with the business end of things – without consulting Harry. On the heels of a heated argument over Harry’s refusal to make the scallop dish for the new crowds demanding it, consultant Emily (Emily Bosco) appears on the scene, or more precisely, in Harry’s domain – the kitchen. She starts by slathering Harry with praise to appeal to his ego, and despite his protestations that he is the “beating heart” of the restaurant, it becomes clear that Mike will not be backing down and Emily will soon be giving the business a much-needed makeover. That lights the fuse for the art versus commerce debate, tempered only by the voice of reason in the enterprise, Rodney (Jordan Pearson), the young waiter.
In addition to being a talented chef, Harry is also a fiery and confident orator, and while his arguments (“Money is not real. Food is real.”) may sound brilliant in the creative universe, the truth is that ideas and principles don’t always pay the bills – something Mike, Emily and Rodney are keenly aware of. And like many artists who have praise heaped upon them and are tagged with the “genius” label, Harry makes it the core of his identity, usually at the expense of everyone around him. “Every reasonably talented guy out there has been told that he’s a fucking genius at some point in his life, and let me tell you they all believe it,” says Emily to Mike, “and they’ve been believing it since they were four – which is frankly when they stopped developing psychologically.”
Having seen Roadrunner, the documentary on the life of celebrity chef/TV star Anthony Bourdain the night before, I wondered how much of the Harry character was modeled on him, or if the personality type is endemic to the profession. Like Bourdain, Harry may not be as self-assured as he presents himself, and in a real twist, we discover that he may not be so averse to cash as he’d like us to believe. But this is not a somber portrait of a narcissist, it’s a comedy – and a good one – exactly the kind of lighthearted fare we need as we head into yet another era of uncertainty. Rebeck is a skilled comedy writer, and the laughs come from a real place. So when Rodney says to Mike of Emily’s matter-of-fact management style, “I can’t believe her. She’s like so annoying and then everyone does what she says. How does she do that?” we nod our heads in recognition as we laugh.
The entire play is set within Harry’s kitchen, and scenic designer Anya Klepikov captures the feel of a boutique eatery with her cluttered set. The cast is solid, with Monaco as Mike giving a grounded performance as the harried operations guy, and Pearson delivering wisdom and laughs as the centered Rodney. Bosco (who executes more costume changes than a Cher performance as the impeccably dressed Emily) does a nice job with the character that veers most closely towards stereotype, and excels in scenes where she loses her professional veneer and explosively tells the boys the real truth. Wagner is a standout as Harry, not only as the swaggering and pretentious artiste, but for his vulnerability when he finally receives his comeuppance. I could swear I saw the face of the late stage, defeated Bourdain in the performance, literally doing a head shake to make sure I wasn’t still at the movie theater the night before.
This is the Boston area premiere of Seared, which had an initial run in Williamstown in 2018. And while not without its flaws (an extraneous romantic plot element for instance), it’s a good take. With so much uncertainty around the fate of live theater as the pandemic heats up yet again, this is a great opportunity to see a worthy production in the bucolic outdoor setting of the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts in Rockport. For tickets and more information, go to: https://gloucesterstage.com/seared/
