Look up the word “melodrama” and you’ll find that this concept distinguishes itself along the spectrum of theatrical productions with sensational characters and over-the-top stagecraft. One night inside the Great American Melodrama in Oceano and you might be pleasantly surprised to know that the theater lives up to its name, and has for decades.
This year the Melodrama celebrates its 40th anniversary. If there are two things that must be known about this theater, the first is that enthralling productions are a norm, and the second is it’s a word-of-mouth destination. At least according to Toby Tropper, the actor who plays the part of Lord Cecil Woodbie in the performance, A Four-Legged Fortune.
Directed by Dion Boucicault, the melodrama runs through the end of the summer and tells the tale of love, deception, and fortune against the backdrop of late 19th century bourgeoisie horse racing culture in London, England.
We can’t give too many details away, but Woodbie is the love-struck man chasing after a reluctant dame who goes by the name of Julia Latimer (Andrea J. Love). As that’s happening, a smarmy and “villainous” (and often murderous) Captain Grindley Googe (Nate Ruleaux) hatches a plan, along with his accomplice Mrs. Mulligan (Megan C.C. Walker), to poison a champion horse by the name of Flying Scud, and steal the odds for a high-stakes horse race.
Googe—the well-dressed sociopathic young man whose real occupation is a double-crosser—finds that he himself gets double-crossed. Audiences will find that Googe is a man who’ll do anything to get what he wants, including commit murder.
Deep structures in the narrative emerge such as sobriety vs. inebriation, deception vs. honesty, kill vs. create, love vs. hate, the effects of which—with exaggerated human emotions and dialogue expressed with English accents and mannerisms—come to bear on the audience, who are encouraged to boo, hiss, or cheer for the characters as the drama unfolds.
Audience participation is key with these types of productions. It’s a good idea to have a few drinks during the intermission to help with this.
Unless you get a kick out of English accents and Mary Poppins-esque tales of love and skullduggery, it may be a little hard to follow. But that’s why they have intermissions and a bar: to get you into character as a melodrama participant. You wouldn’t be drinking alone, of course. At one point in the play, some of the actors were depicted pouring a few stiff ones from a bottle during a round of poker.
Running roughly an hour and a half, A Four Legged Fortune was followed by a 30-minute vaudeville show of this summer’s Hollywood movies aptly called the Summer Blockbuster Hollywood Revue directed by Dan Schultz and performed by the same troupe.
For anyone who doesn’t know, vaudeville is a type of theatrical variety show. Often consisting of comedians, musicians, dancers—and also encompassing the types of shows that included burlesque and circus “freak shows”—performed live on a stage in short plays.
In one play (there are several in this 30-minute segment), the characters utter dialogue consisting only of lines taken from famous Hollywood movies. There’s something for every audience member to chuckle about as most of the lines are recognizable from some movie or another, including lots of Schwarzenegger flicks.
For a venue that’s “word of mouth only,” The Great American Melodrama is an alternative form of theatrical entertainment in a cinema-saturated society.
A Four-Legged Fortune is showing at The Great American Melodrama until Sep. 20. Another feature, La Rue’s Return, which is performed by a different troupe, runs until Sept. 19. Showings are on Wednesday through Sunday. Tickets run from $19 to $25. The Great American Melodrama is located on 1863 Front St. in Oceano. For more information on current and future shows, call 489-2499.
Contact Staff Writer David Minsky at dminsky@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 20-27, 2015.