“It’s all about the money”. “Follow the money trail”. I can’t
even think of all the times I’ve heard those phrases. In Ayad Akhtar’s world
premiere production of “Junk: The Golden Age of Debt” now at The La Jolla
Playhouse through Sept. 7th. This money trail is bit different, but it
still boils down to the absolute power of money and how it breeds greed,
corruption and fraud!
Most of us avoid debt like the plague, yet ask anyone in debt
and the shrug of an answer you may get implies ‘everyone is in debt on some
level’. In “Junk” the playwright isn’t talking some debt, he’s talking BIG
corporate takeover as in Junk Bond Debt.
Creative investor’s used this process in the mid 80’s (not
that similar schemes haven’t been used before but not on such a large scale) to
create humongous profits for themselves while leaving others in deep dodo debt,
sending many into bankruptcy, suicide and or prison. Think crook Bernie Madoff
but before that think Michael Milken, the “Junk Bond King”. Actually both
crooks.
Akhtar’s “Junk” is pretty inclusive in its scope naming by
implication and association but not actually calling by name all the players
and how they played a part in the scheme of buying ‘junk’ or getting deeper in
debt (which at the time was a ‘good’ thing) to raise capital quickly in order
to finance the takeover of another business or conglomerate.
In ‘Junk’ the entire first act (there are 2 and ½ acts) sets
us up with the scheme and the players. And while director Doug Hughes’
production is sharp as a tack and the large ensemble is clearly articulate in
outlining the process, the fast changing scenes in the too long first act
simply flew by me and it wasn’t until the second act that the ‘junk’ concept
fell into place. I’m sorry I slept through that financial upheaval of the 80’s
but with no one wanting anything I had, it was easy. It sort of reminded me of
the movie “The Sting”: “The Players”. “The Tale”. “The Set Up”. “The Hook”.
“The Sting”.
“Junk” unfolds in front of our eyes when the big guns, ‘The
Raiders’ or Players include Robert Merkin (Josh Cook), Raul Rivera (Armando
Riesco), Israel Peterman (Matthew Rauch) and Boris Pronsky (Jeff Marlow). They want
to buy out Thomas Everson’s (Linus Roache) family owned and operated for three
generations Steel and United. He was a proud man who treated his employees with
respect. Everson is one of the more developed characters in “Junk” and Cook
plays him like a violin.
Clearly, Everson isn’t what in some eyes looked like small
potatoes. His was a manufacturing behemoth and still member of the Dow
Industrial Average. But times and conditions pushed his company to diversify. That
said, when it was learned that he needed money to help his business out of debt
and keep his workers employed, he was pretty blindsided when the guns swooped
down on him and pressured until they broke him.
His friends, investment banker and advisor Maximilien Cizik (Henry
Stram) and Jacqueline Blount (Zakiya Iman Markland) a lawyer at Cizik’s firm along
with Leo Tessler (David Rasche) were there for “The Setup”. They were the go between.
Outside his circle Giuseppi Addesso U.S.
Attorney of New York (Benjamin Burdick) and Kevin Walsh, (Keith Wallace) Ass’t.
U.S. Attorney of the fraud unit were in on “The Hook”.
They set up “The Sting” to bring Merkin down but not before
everyone involved dirties their hands including Addesso, whose character
resemblance to Rudy Giuliani is about as close to real as Merkin is to Milkin. Add Judy Chen, (Jennifer Ikeda) a young up and
comer writing her own account of the big guns manages to catch the eye of
Tessler. Watching that little romance develop was probably the lightest of
moments in the play but Akhtar still manages to bring out the sexism that
existed then (as now).
Amy Merkin (Annika Boras), Merkin’s wife is his co
conspirator but she’s a bit smarter in the finances to his more ballsy
aggression in the working of them. A few minor characters that serve at the
wishes of their boss’s float in and out, giving a broader spectrum to the
details. That’s pretty much the whole ball of wax. How it plays out on a day-by-day
operation and the conversations that propel it, give Akhtar a leg up in this
messy business of explaining it.
It would be foolish to ignore what Akhtar has put before us
in this world premiere. This fictionalized account of real life money matters
and the thirst for power is but a drop in the bucket of what brought the banks,
big corporations and some very stable institutions to their knees.
The entire production is first rate starting with John Lee
Beatty’s multi cubed set lit by lighting designer Ben Stanton’s yellowish
blinking lights. Mark Bennett’s original music and sound announced the changing
scenes, seamlessly unfolding (Allegro con brio) and dynamic with loud pulsating
booms. And William Mellette’s costumes are handsome looking Brooks Brother’s
generic to fit any time from the 80’s to now.
A few personal observations: The third act is superfluous and
the first act can be shortened. References to Jews (Shylock, shyster, good
Jews) and those of the Jewish Faith offended me even though that apparently was
norm those days in ways of separating the Blue Bloods from the Immigrants. It
still rubbed me the wrong way.
As the big guns outwitted the little guns with their
investment schemes along the way and without anyone looking over their
shoulders, the disparity in the redistribution of wealth and the loss of good
paying jobs is what has this country in the financial bind it is in today and it
doesn’t look as if its going away. Stay tuned.
See you at the theatre.
Dates: Through Aug. 21st.
Organization: La Jolla Playhouse
Phone: 858-550-1010
Production Type: Drama
Where:2910 La Jolla Village Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037
Ticket Prices: Check with Box Office
Web: laplayhouse.org
Venue: Mandell Weiss Theatre
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