POLITICS, culture, beauty and even racial identity are but a few of the themes of Zak Berkman’s thoughtful but seriously overstuffed new play being presented by the Epic Theater Center.
Starring Olivia Wilde, the young actress who’s graced such shows as “The O.C.” and “The Black Donnellys,” as a radio commentator who skews younger and righter than Ann Coulter, “Beauty on the Vine” has a lot to say about a lot of things, with the result that it becomes more muddled than provocative.
The central character is Lauren (Wilde), a radio personality who traces her right-wing philosophies to having sat, as a child, on Ronald Reagan’s lap while he was dressed as Santa Claus. Lauren has become a star, especially with the younger set, due in no small part to her considerable physical beauty, one that has inspired many young women to attempt to duplicate it via plastic surgery.
Unfortunately, that hero worship has unexpectedly tragic results – and Lauren winds up brutally murdered. Those left behind – her loving father (Victor Slezak) and the husband (Howard W. Overshown) whose multiracial heritage caused consternation in some of her fans – try to find out who did it.
The play is confusing enough simply on a structural level, jumping back and forth in time and featuring Wilde as no fewer than three characters, including two of Lauren’s fans who’ve surgically transformed themselves into doppelgangers.
Even more problematic is the play’s thematic and stylistic fuzziness. Veering haphazardly from political satire to futuristic fable to murder mystery, it doesn’t quite manage to succeed on any level, and the writing is often pretentious and pedantic.
Director David Schweizer has provided an effectively ominous staging, and the performers, particularly Wilde, bring great conviction to their roles. But ultimately “Beauty on the Vine” withers.
BEAUTY ON THE VINE
Clurman Theatre, 410 W. 42nd St.; (212) 279-4200. Through June 3.