Review: ‘Unbroken Circles’ at Odyssey Theatre

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Greg Phillips is a playwright with a story to tell. In fact, he has a dozen or so stories to tell. The problem is that he shoehorns them all into the same operatically fervid play, the world premiere “Unbroken Circles,” a guest production at the Odyssey Theatre.

Phillips, who also directs, sets his overpopulated yarn in the North Carolina home of the Moss family, a group of legendary country singers spanning three generations. When the clan gathers to celebrate the family matriarch’s 75th birthday, the stage is set for various high-jinks, low-jinks, and all kinds of jinks in between.

The action is presumably set in the present day, but the characters’ complaints about how sweltering it is inside the house are simply baffling. These people are affluent, and they certainly don’t seem environmentally motivated. So why haven’t they heard of air conditioning, already? Still, it gives one and all a convenient excuse to step out on the porch for a breath of air and –- you guessed it -– more jinks.

Tonally speaking, Phillips can’t seem to decide whether he’s Del Shores or Tennessee Williams. More problematically, he tends to condescend to his regional characters, who bridge any gap in the dialogue with persistent requests for ‘coke-colas.’ (Bring on them moon pies, sistah-woman.)

The performers range from the competent to the overblown, with Maureen Teefy taking pride of place for her sensitive portrayal of Booth, the sweet family workhorse who soldiers on despite a recent, dire diagnosis. To recount the plethora of plots would be a thankless task, and that’s unfortunate, because Phillips occasionally happens upon a genuinely diverting story line amid the general excess. However, in its present form, this ‘Circle’ is, if not downright broken, then at the very least rough around the edges.

--F. Kathleen Foley

“Unbroken Circles,” Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays. Ends March 1. $25. (310) 477-2055. Running time: 3 hours.