Gretty Good Time
Reviewed by Milla Goldenberg
Published in the May 8, 2003 issue of NoHo>LA

A strong-willed, opinionated and oftentimes bratty woman serves as the focal point of Gretty Good Time, a heart-tugging play written by John Belluso and playing at Burbank's Falcon Theatre through May 4.

We meet Gretty (played by Ann Stocking) in a 1950s nursing home long after she received her fun-loving moniker. Stricken with polio, paralysis and the threat of having to use an iron lung, she's well aware that her best times are behind her and spends her days contemplating suicide and paling around with fellow patient McCloud, who's ably played by the horse-throated and very funny Pamela Gordon.

At night, she escapes to the fantasyland of her dreams, which star Gretty's imaginary friend Hideko, a Hiroshima maiden also longing for the normalcy and good health of her old life. Gretty and Hideko's exchanges revolve around their joint fantasy of flying away with the Eastern wind and, oddly, reruns of This Is Your Life, which seem wildly out of place here. The show does succeed in bringing Hideko face to face with the Army Captain who dropped the bomb that deformed her.

Directed by Joe Regalbuto--perhaps best known for his role as Frank Fontana on Murphy Brown--Gretty Good Time is a well-produced show with high production values, talented actors and believable sets. It's a life-affirming tale of rejection and redemption, one that's sure to make you cherish your good health and recognize that all times are only as good as you make them.

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