BAKERSFIELD MIST: 97% – SWEET

Jenny O’Hara, Nick Ullett in "Bakersfield Mist" at the Fountain Theatre. Credit: Ed Krieger.

SWEET
This is entertainment, not art (despite the fact that Art is at the heart of its theme), but it is entertainment at its simplest and best. There are times when a reviewer sees a play and all he wants to say is, hey folks, just go, take my word for it, you’re going to have a great time, this is just plain good writing, handled beautifully, and acted by two pros who should not be forgotten when awards time comes around. Bakersfield Mist is a delight.
Harvey Perr – Stage and Cinema

SWEET
Sachs’ play touches chords from the profoundly personal to the intensely intellectual – a perfect marriage of emotion and ideas that is rare indeed.
F. Kathleen Foley – LA Times

SWEET
Even though the year is but halfway through, Los Angeles seems unlikely to see a more deftly crafted item than writer-director Stephen Sachs’ absorbing, hilarious two-hander about the nature of art and the vagaries of human perception. And only the suicidal would hold their breath waiting to see better joint performances than those given by Jenny O’Hara and Nick Ullett, magnificent as the central combatants.
David C. Nichols – Backstage

SWEET
And here begins the verbal duel between them: Stephen Sachs’ sharp dialogue — passionately delivered by Jenny O’Hara and Nick Ullett, husband-and-wife acting team — is fast-paced and enormously clever.
Clare Elfman – Buzzine

SWEET
As director, Sachs has built a mesmerizing portrait of two complex characters and he has a superlative cast to flesh out his vision. Although the play falters when the action ratchets up from the issue at hand (how long can two entrenched opinions carry on in opposition? Oh, I forgot the U.S. Congress), the actors gracefully take the leap to more personal ground. Maude’s argument for the authenticity of the painting reveals a crafty, ordered mind, and Percy’s button-down propriety proves to be too brittle for her ferocious barbs. As evidence mounts, the characters both lose instead, the contents of their protective lives.
Leigh Kennicott – Stagehappenings

SWEET
O’Hara and Ullett are impeccable actors and they respond wholeheartedly to each other, to Sachs’ keen direction, and to his incomparable dialogue and humor.
Cynthia Citron – LA Examiner

SWEET
Sachs directs the two-hander with an abundance of spirit, smartly letting the outstanding actors brawl and emote with delightful abandon.
Amy Lyons – LA Weekly

SWEET
What you’re unlikely to be debating is what an absolutely captivating play Sachs has written. The definition of art may divide audience members, but on Bakersfield Mist, I’d venture to guess that sentiments are likely to be close to unanimous wows.
Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA

SWEET
The Fountain Theatre, no stranger to winning teams, brings a knock out punch to the boards in the likes of Jenny O’Hara and Nick Ullett (real life partners) who team together in a story by Stephen Sachs which could easily notch another win in the Fountain’s vast trophy case.
Jose Ruiz – Reviewplays

SWEET
In the moment, O’Hara and Ullett, bring this quirky story beautifully to life. This is the Real McCoy. The Art of Theatre, when presented with such care, as this show is, is undeniable.
Michael Sheehan – On Stage Los Angeles

BITTERSWEET
Sachs, who also directs, evidently charged Jeff McLaughlin with stripping bare every L.A. thrift shop in decorating Maude’s abode with Hummel figures, stuffed animals and Naugahyde furniture. Still, it’s larger and more comfy than is good for the action. Maybe if there were less room to breathe, the stakes might be higher and the impact enhanced accordingly.
Bob Verini – Variety

SWEET
Theatre buffs from all over the Southland are filling the house of this modest, multi-award winning venue, even Westsiders who hardly ever venture east of La Cienega know a good thing and come to see one.
Ingrid Wilmot – Will Call

SWEET
What ensues is half delicate-dance and half bloody-joust but it is wholly entertaining as the two fight, flirt and console their way into an examination of the true nature of art and intellect.
Susan Burns – Melpomene Blogs Back

SWEET
It is a wonderful piece that explores the vagaries and vanities of the art world with great humor, energy and insight through the eyes of two distinctly different individuals.
Candyce Columbus – LA Examiner

SWEET
Simultaneously provoking deep thoughts and belly laughs is no easy feat, but the Fountain Theatre’s brilliantly executed world-premiere of Stephen Sachs’ 90-minute jewel of a play does all that and more.
Christopher Cappiello – Frontiers

SWEET
O’Hara and Ullett milk every ounce of comic gold under Sachs’ deft direction, as the play moves from sophisticated serio-comedy to knockabout farce and back. Inspired by true events and written with the pair (who are married in real life) in mind, “Mist” is nothing less than an 85-minute master class for actors, and an unqualified joy for everyone else.
Jordan Young – LA Examiner

SWEET
Also Sachs provides an excellent arena for his two actors whose lively and meticulous performances are a celebration of that happy union of craft and talent. Let me also call attention to Jeff McLaughlin, for his exquisite set that expresses perfectly to an audience both the world the play inhabits and the kind of person inhabiting that world. Kudos.
Ernest Kearney – WorkingAuthor

BAKERSFIELD MIST
Fountain Theatre
5060 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
EXTENDED THROUGH DECEMBER 18, 2011
Tickets: $25-$30. (323) 663-1525
Running time: 1 hour, 20 minutes