Theatre review: Night and Her Stars at the Garage Theatre

If you could make a lot of money doing something that is not illegal but of questionable ethics, would you do it? That is the $64,000 question posed in Night and Her Stars, playing through June 28 at the Garage Theatre.
Inspired by the quiz-show scandals of the mid- to late ’50s, the play revolves about two hapless contestants, Herbert Stempel (Anthony Galleran) and Charles Van Doren (Sumner Leveque), and their coach, manipulator, tormentor, father figure, some-might-say-devil-incarnate, Dan Enright, masterfully played by Robert Edward. Dressed all in black, save for a bright-red pocket handkerchief, Enright has a sharp intellect, slippery morals and a silver tongue, in short, all the characteristics required to do untold harm to others and keep himself above the fray.
As is the case today, programming then was driven by sponsors who demanded that TV producers get as many eyeballs on their commercials as possible— and that the audience members associated with those eyeballs be happy with the shows they saw. Prior to the advent of coaching, contestants were often stumped because— who would have thought!— they didn’t have the answers for every conceivable question on every conceivable topic under the sun. This, however, made for bored audiences, as one cynical sponsor, played by Julie E. Ray, spits out to Enright, “Are these the Einsteins you promised me?…I have a product to push!.I watch this and I think: My eighty-year-old ladies are not going to be loving— I mean this? The stammering, the blank stares. At best, it will remind them that they’re senile. Is that a jolly evening by the hearth?” Then as today, these, of course, are the same sponsors who quickly bail, with feigned horror and blushing, when the slightest hints of impropriety surface.
Enright, emboldened by the sponsor’s challenge, knows that what America wants is a hero, and by hell or high water (mostly hell), he’ll make one for them. His first victim is Herbert Stempel, a ne’er-do-well with massive reserves of insecurity, a newborn child to support and a wife who is only slightly more emotionally fragile than he is. Herbert, who prides himself on his clothes, despite his modest means, is easily persuaded by Enright to shelve his perfectly fitted attire for a shirt that’s ready to burst its buttons and a suit jacket with sleeves several inches too short. He thus transforms into a pathetic nerd for the viewing pleasure of the nation. In this moment, Herbert takes the first step down a path that will lead to his eventual breakdown, all orchestrated by maestro Enright.
Enright then seeks a second “hero” to act as a foil to Herbert. As the devil would have it, Charles Van Doren, black sheep of the renowned family of letters, comes knocking. An English professor at Columbia (one gets the feeling that his father may have pulled a few strings) whose colleagues doubt he is up to snuff, Charles convinces himself that his moral flexibility is all in the greater good of humanity. He is, so his mental ramblings go, after all encouraging audience members to delve into the classics when questions about the great works of literature are tossed out as quiz show questions. I mean, doesn’t a fine point about The Republic have every couch potato running for the nearest complete works of Plato? What mental gymnastics he undergoes! The $64,000 question, though, is, How many of us in the audience do the same variety of rationalization during the course of our own lives?
This is the main story, but the theater-goer is encouraged to pay close attention to the subplot of the father-son bond, or lack thereof, which is perhaps even more interesting than the mostly historical theme of the corruption of contestants and the deception of audiences, aptly conveyed in Richard Greenberg’s script. Volumes are conveyed, for example, in the letters to his distinguished father that Charlie dictates— and fastidiously edits— aloud to the air. Is he sending letters rather than calling or visiting because he wishes to put distance between him and his author-father, or does he wish to show his father that he, too, can write? By far the most touching, nearly metaphysical, certainly larger-than-life scene occurs at the close of the play when Charlie and his intensely sensitive and uber-understanding father, Mark Van Doren (Stephen Alkus), have a heart-to-heart in the quiet of the family’s garden. The elder Van Doren is 100 percent the Platonic ideal of a loving parent, and yet Charles, who wears his self-inflicted unworthiness like a shabby coat, feels his father is belittling him. Deceptions on camera and off, external and in the depths of the soul— this is the stuff of Night and Her Stars.

Night and Her Stars continues at the Garage Theatre through June 28. General admission is $18. Admission for students, seniors and teachers is $15. Closing night is $20. Two-fer Sutherland Thursdays means 2-for-1 tickets on general ticket price only by using promo code “twofer.” Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Doors open at 7:30pm. Shows start at 8pm. The Garage Theatre is located at 251 E. 7th St. For tickets or subscriptions, visit thegaragetheatre.org .