Clark Gable Slept Here is a non-stop, drama-packed laugh fest. Meant for a mature audience, this play will have you laughing in moments you probably shouldn’t. As a tribute to the seemingly perfectness of Hollywood’s super stars, this play addresses issues like drugs, affairs and everything else that makes Hollywood….Well, Hollywood.
In the penthouse suite at the Chateau Marmount on the night of The Golden Globes, a famous action star’s hotel room contains a cheeky mistake. It’s up to the celebrity’s manager and the hotel staff to fix the situation so that no one ever finds out. What follows is a series of twists and turns that leaves audiences at the edge of their seat.
The play’s talent could not be bound to the three walls of the stage. Performances by the actors and actresses made you feel as if you were part of the dilemma with them.
Jarrod “Hilly” Hillard is played by Clint Archambault. The scotch drinking, pill popping agent of action-hero Patrick Zane paces along the stage, upset that he has to pick up the mess that his client left behind. Archambault’s rendering was a spot-on representation of the typical heartless Hollywood agent that would do anything to make his stars look good.
By the same token, Sandi Stock’s interpretation was just as ruthless. Strutting along the stage with broken leg and all, Stock as Morgan Wright, Hilly’s right-hand woman, was intimidating and fearless.
Hotel staff played by Chris D’Angelo and Marcela Paguaga was also phenomenal. The side-splitting duo’s edgy and antsy rendition was a great juxtaposition to the cunning performance of Stock and Archambault. D’Angelo’s execution as hotel manager Gage Holland was an exact depiction of what a normal person looks like when tangled in the web of scandal in Hollywood.
Paguaga’s character, the hotel maid Estella, is a mix of every other character put into one. In one moment, she is jumping on the bed, screaming profanities in Spanish and the next she’s cooly striding around the room without a care in the world.
Roderick Randle plays Travis, who is in the center of the whole conflict. Literally. Randle’s character is perhaps the most perplexed and chaotic character of all. His performance brings the whole play to life. One could even say he resurrected the character flawlessly.
The play will run from now until February 25, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $30 for adults, and $25 for students, seniors, and military personnel. Theatre League members $20 with I.D. at the door only. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.mainstreetplayers.com, or at the box office 60 minutes prior to showtime.