Becky’s New Car is brilliant and blissful

One goes with trepidation to a play that is announced as being a “directorial debut.” However … in the case of Becky’s New Car one can put those trepidations to bed.

Sarah Mae Johnson’s direction of this serio-comic play is as good as that of our best and brightest. She has cast the show impeccably and assembled a crew of technicians who are more than able to carry out her well thought out directorial choices.

Michelle Grimes is brilliant as Becky. Right from the start her inclusion of the audience in her “self talk” about housework and relationships makes each and all in attendance feel as if we were her intimate buddies. She opens her heart and we walk right in.

Once in, we are blissfully swept along with this delicious lady on a journey from doormat to freedom – not from her life – but within it. This is not a spoiler. The journey of which I speak is wondrously inventive and indelibly memorable. Becky’s New Car is one of Stephen Dietz’s very best plays. His writing is outrageously funny and magnificently human. In my not so humble opinion, it’s one of the best plays written in the last decade.

The supporting cast is full of actors known for creating great characters. Andy Anderson plays Becky’s inattentive husband Joe, with a naturalness that is delightful. Jim Hunt is right at home in the part of Walter. His acting of the part of the wealthy widower is a brilliant exercise in a delicious sort of understated humor. Jan Cleveland charms us as Ginger, a friend of Walter’s family who has recently lost her estate and is contentedly working as a bartender.

Ms. Cleveland’s buttery command of the stage makes one hungry to see her upon the stage again soon. Charles Wingerter is right at home in the role of Becky’s boss, Steve. His is a thrillingly layered characterization that begins with casual self-absorption and ends in high-octane intensity. Brian Kusic is spot on with his portrayal of Chris, Becky’s scruffy intellectually snobbish son. Mallory Vining rounds out the cast as Chris’s new squeeze.

The set includes four locations, which are thoroughly well put forth by director Johnson and scenic designer Brian Miller. It’s clear that they’ve been given a budget that allowed them to get creative not only pragmatically but also aesthetically.

This play comes with high recommendations.

‘Becky’s New Car’ plays through Feb. 19 at the Vintage Theatre, 2119 East 17th Ave. On the Web at http://vintagetheatre.com.