As Bees in Honey Drown is as good if not better than the New York production. Back in 1998 we went down to the Lucille Lortel Theatre in the Village to see Douglas Carter Beane's As Bees in Honey Drown. Friends of mine had told me to be sure to see this off Broadway. Everyone was raving about the acting of Kristine Nielsen who was playing Alexa Vere de Veer. My first impression after the first act was 'what was all the fuss about?' Frankly I was tired of the Alexa's character after the first act. She reminded me of many people in Hollywood. However the second act picked up and on the whole, that act saved the play.

As time went by, the only thing I could remember about the play was the fact that we sat next to Patricia Neal and her husband and I had a great conversation of her days at Warner Bros. Every time I thought of Bees, I thought of this great lady.

When it was announced that Theatre Works was having the West Coast Premier of the comedy, I had mixed feelings about seeing it again. Since we are regular subscribers of this prestigious company, we went down with a group to see Mr. Beane's play again. In a nutshell, I liked this production better than the one in New York.

I discovered that this was a sharp, sassy comedy and the four major actors made it a superb production. Danny Scheie, who was artistic director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz, did an impressive direction of this play. It should also be stated that this is same director who did Die Die Diana at San Jose State last season. Director Scheie used Mountain View's intimate Second Stage for the play. The Second Stage seats approximately 150 patrons with risers surrounding 1/4 of the stage and it offered an incredibly satisfying theatergoing experience. We were right in the middle of the action as this fast and furious comedy flies through no fewer than ten New York locations, raging from the resplendent Hotel Paramount and Saks Fifth Ave., to trendy restaurants and even the Staten Island Ferry. To watch the consummate performers at work in this extraordinary theatre setting was wonderful.

The plot is of gay novelist Evan Wyler making a splash with his first book, and he is featured in a photo spread in a trendy magazine. Evan is contacted by the seductive Alexa, claiming to be a high powered music producer, who literally tosses money into the air and tells him she wants to hire him to write a screenplay about her glamorous life. Since Evan has been scrounging for subway fare in a culture that marginalizes artists, he quickly agrees. Despite being gay, he falls in love with Alexa.

Actually everyone with the exception of Evan can see that Alexa is a great con artist. Alexa cons the naive Evan into paying all the bills with his credit card while she relates the cock and bull story of her fascinating life. She says she has no use for credit cards, but she needs receipts on all the things she buys so Evan will be reimbursed. Once Evan's credit card has maxed out, Alexa splits. That's the end of the first act.

In the second act the author takes his theme to a more penetrating level and his plot in some surprising directions. Evan sets out on a confused search for the truth or just plain revenge. He encounters a rich mix of Alexa's former victims, including the happily obscure painter who helped create her.

Alexa Vere de Veere is a sort of amoral Sally Bowles/Holly Golightly type and she is a force to be reckoned with in this witty comedy. Rebecca Dines, one of our better Bay Area actresses, is so brilliantly focused as the multifaceted Alexa that she's almost in danger of wiping everybody else off the stage. I think she played the role better than New York actress Kristine Nelson. Michael De Good, another talented actor from Los Angeles and San Francisco, played the gullible hungry writer Evan. He is a sort of Tom Hulce lookalike and he is superb in the role. Doug Holsclaw does a nice turn as the cynical gay artist, the only person who knows the real Alexa. Jackson Davis, who has done many roles at Theatre Works, plays several roles and he is, as usual, excellent. This is one of Theatre Works' better productions. The play will have a long run, ending on October 3, 1999. This production is good enough to transfer to a San Francisco theatre.

Theatre Works will open their third play of the season at the main theatre on August 25 for four weeks only. The play is Tina Howe's Pride's Crossing, which won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play in 1998.

- Richard Connema