Metropolitan Playhouse Virtual Playhouse Presents A Screened Reading of

THE MAGICAL CITY

Written by ZOË AKINS

Directed by MICHAEL HARDART

Featuring

KELLY D. COOPER, THOMAS DANIELS, CLIFF MILLER, BRIAN OTT, BRIAN RICHARDSON, DANIELLE STANEK, PETE VELIZ, & BARBRA WENGERD

Graphic Settings by ANNE FIZZARD

Talkback with ALAN KREISENBECK, PhD, author of “Zoë Akins: Broadway Playwright” and former Professor of Theater at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Available through February 3, 2021

www.metropolitanplayhose.org/virtualplayhouse

January 30, 2021, 8 p.m.

Our pampered and partied ingenue, Petronelle, floats in and above THE MAGICAL CITY we call New York. Stars in her eyes, stars in the skies, glittering lights below her posh hotel room. As her maid fusses over her, Petronelle talks about a mysterious “he”. She feels afraid, but doesn’t know why. The maid warns her: One day she will go too far in her manipulation of men. Petronelle shrugs. A married millionaire sends her money every month, while a young local poet woos her with sweet words every day. She is young, beautiful, talented, famous. Not a care in the world.

Or so she thinks. (She doesn’t really spend a lot of time thinking.)

The maid leaves, and her darling David enters, full of flowery compliments and classical allusions, which are Greek to her, both literally and figuratively. And we all know how those old Greek stories end.

Aha! Enter the rich lover, Rudolph. Who is this “shabby rival”? He forces Petronelle to decide between them. Gasp! The future lies not in their stars, but in themselves. It’s been a long night.

Great acting, as always. The background designs and animation, done in a graphic-novel style, are really entertaining in themselves. Outstanding.

This play was written in 1919. Word War I had just ended, women were getting the vote, society was shifting and shaking its way into the future. Most effected was the “role” of women. Independent and self-supporting? Married and secure? Run off with a poor poet or rest in the arms of a solidly practical wealthy older man? Petronelle turns her back to the men and, gazing at the twinkling sky, announces her decision.

-Karen D’Onofrio-