Theater Review—

‘Talk Radio’: All Talk, Little Action, Brilliant Work

By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD — Times change. Or at least they evolve. It used to be that if you were stuck in the car without a ballgame on, and for some reason no NPR frequency in range, you might have been stuck with the likes of Limbaugh and his racist rants. What a wonderful reason to be grateful for the invention of the iPod and its progeny.

Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, originally created as a vehicle for him to do what was essentially a one-man-show, was written in the 1980s, when the concept of the loud, aggressive, bullying in-your-face shock jock was a relatively new phenomenon. Howard Stern was probably one prototype for this kind of personality. Alan Berg, who was murdered by white supremacists in Texas, was another.

In his play — and in Oliver Stone’s movie version — Bogosian took on the role of Barry Champlain, a manic figure who spent two hours every night engaging in conversations with listeners who called in to station WTLK to spill their guts or express their craziness, for the entertainment of the Cleveland area radio audience.   As explained by Barry’s boss, Station Manager Dan Woodruff,  it was Woodruff’s own idea to revitalize a boring music station by switching to an all talk  format.

Champlain’s show is sandwiched between financial adviser Syd Greenburg and psychologist Dr Susan Fleming, but it is Barry who had driven up the ratings, and it is Barry who is being considered for national syndication. This is the message Woodruff brings to his star performer, telling him that the network executives are going to be listening tonight: Don’t say or do anything crazy enough to screw up your chances.

Thus the play, which is currently in production by TheatreWorks New Milford, affords a chance for the network people and the theater audience to experience an evening with Barry Champlain. At the same time, it forces the egomaniacal Barry to see himself as well, in the course of his interactions with the weird and lonely strangers who reach out across the ether to talk with

For the New Milford production, directed by Susan Abrams, Champlain is played by Newtown native Bob Lussier. I have never seen Bogosian perform, but I think Lussier handled the part as well as it could be done. As a tour-de-force he is totally outrageous and believable.

The rest of the cast has been well coached and directed: Jacky Saulnier, Alex Echevarria, Laura Gilbert, James Hipp, Marilyn Hart Tom Libonate, and Beth Bonnabeau are the rest of the station personnel, and Maxwell Alexander is a caller who actually comes in to the station in the flesh. Does this make a play? It was fun and interesting to watch, but it didn’t leave you with a lot to talk about afterwards.

Maybe it is indicative of a national sense of anomie and disconnect that leads people to call and reveal themselves to a disembodied stranger. Hopefully they are just the lunatic fringe, but perhaps not.

You won’t be bored by Talk Radio, and there is nothing about the production to find fault with. It’s a chance for actors to strut their stuff.

(Performances continue until March 19. Curtain is 8 pm Friday and Saturday, and 2 pm Sunday, March 13. Tickets are $20.

Talk Radio is recommended for mature audiences. Call 860-350-6863 or visit TheatreWorks.us for reservations and additional information.)