F.LL.W.: [The Tragedies and Triumphs of Frank Lloyd Wright] - Reviews

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Southern CA August 07, 2002

F.LL.W. Reviewed By Polly Warfield - CRITIC'S PICK!

"F.LL.W. " presented by Theatre of Will in association with the Hudson Avenue Theatre, at the Hudson Avenue Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Thurs. 8 p.m. July 25-Sept. 12. $15. (323) 856-4200.

When he was 14 actor/playwright John Crowther met American icon and trailblazer Frank Lloyd Wright. Obviously impressed, the boy decided to become an architect. Obviously he changed his mind. He now impresses us with his meticulously articulated portrayal of the master builder. His homage, a world premiere, subtitled "The Tragedies & Triumphs of Frank Lloyd Wright," details plenty of both.

Crowther's rich dramatic treatment makes clear Wright was a visionary and radical innovator with a theatrical flair irresistible to the ladies--including his redoubtable mother. She wanted an architect son and she got the prize. F.LL.W.'s life contains plot twists, love triangles, scandals d'amour, emotional maelstroms to fill several soap operas, plus a tragedy of Grand Guignol horror to shatter a lesser man. But this was a man with a mission who survived to fulfill it. Wright died at 93 having just completed the design and construction of the Guggenheim Museum.

Crowther looks natty in dove gray vest and trousers, Byronic shirt, and flowing poet's silk cravat. Tufts of white hair escape from Wright's signature beret: The actor remarkably resembles the Wright of later years, welcoming his cadre of students and assistants in the drafting room of the Taliesin, Wis., hillside home he named for a mythic Celtic hero. "Roll up your sleeves, boys, we've got work to do," is his hearty greeting. Then he launches into a reverie of recollections and pronouncements: "The exterior of a house should reveal more than it conceals".... "Closets are an abomination".... "A house should not be on a hill, but of it...." Hard work was Wright's salvation.

During his absence one July afternoon in 1914 a crazed manservant went on a maniacal rampage, set fire to the house after carefully sealing all exits, burned down Taliesin, and slaughtered the people in it, including Wright's beloved mistress Mamah and her children. Crowther's demeanor, until now dignified and restrained, gives way to emotion; he buries his face in his hands and sobs when he tells this tale. Wright survived tragedy to triumph with, among other creations, the famed Imperial Hotel in Japan, one of the few buildings left standing after the 1923 Tokyo earthquake.

Willard Simms, one-person show expert, directs with sensitivity and showmanship, abetted by Ed Martel's lovely flute-like music, Chris Weimer's character-defining costume, and Matthew Scarpino's clean, spare set, ornamented with architects' drawings and a lone Japanese artwork. F.LL.W. does what an homage should--it makes you want to get hold of a good biography with lots of pictures.