A required text for most sixteen year olds across the country, The Catcher in the Rye has one of the most captivating and misunderstood protagonists in American literature. Holden Caulfield is revered by his devotees as a James Dean-esque teenage rebel. Upon rereading him a decade or two later, however, most of those adolescent fans find a much more disturbed and lonely boy, clad in a prep school blazer. This is what makes The Catcher in the Rye so captivating, and what makes The Black Dahlia's production of Huck and Holden fall so flat. Rajiv Joseph's freshman (in more ways than one) play introduces us to Navin, a culture-shocked Indian student spending undergrad in the States before returning to his Calcutta home for an arranged marriage and Hindu provinciality. His plans take a turn, however, as he discovers The Catcher in the Rye and the charming librarian, Michele. Michele, too is gaining new awareness as she flips through the Kama Sutra at work. The premise is terrific, and it's delightful to see oft-unrepresented Indian characters on stage. However, the play soon crumbles under the weight of wooden performances.
Suffering from a dearth of subtext, the characters each parody themselves, never raising their relationships to literary heights. Navin's fantasy protagonist is a sheik from his Indian prep school whom he idolized. He seems to pop up when Navin is in a tough spot, acting as his untapped masculinity. Holden Singh resembles the literary Holden Caulfield only in dress- turban notwithstanding. How he ends up in a frat boy's room discussing porn and "waxing ass" is anyone's guess. The real Holden wouldn't be caught dead in such a place. Danny Pudi instead plays Singh as a lothario, a worldly and cynical prep school drop out. The charming Pudi seems able enough in the role, and one can't help but wonder where the director was while the character developed. Also charming but misled is Michele. Raina Simone Moore's performance is brutally one note, never straying too far from casual upbeatedness, even when describing her boyfriend's infidelity (Frank Faucette) and grandmother's death. The only time Michele's voice is unrestrained is when she's singing- which, is sadly only one verse. If she were perhaps to find the musicality in her character's voice, her performance would have appeared more dynamic.
As the mousy protagonist, Navin, Kunal Nayyar’s occasional vulnerability raises his performance above self-parody. While most of the jokes are cross cultural zingers like silly grammar and wardrobe choices, Nayyar handles the dialogue earnestly. From the outset the audience is cheering for him to lose the big V and assimilate like a good American college student. The deus ex libris, Kali, played by Jameelah McMillan can't decide whether she's a sharp tongued sista with a penchant for stirring up trouble or a venerable goddess with a fierce bloodlust. Either would have been interesting, but it seemed like director Claudia Weill couldn't decide and split the difference. The result is jarring and mostly silly.
Curiously, the other title bearer, Huckleberry Finn, is conspicuously absent from the whole play. What would be more interesting is if the Huck and Holden of the title were given their due. The play lives at the very end, as Navin reads from his book report, which he can't help but interrupt as his brain reels over the events of the previous night. Ultimately, it seems a shame that it was his essay that told the best story, and not the play he lives in.
Huck and Holden
By Rajiv Joseph
Directed by Claudia Weill
Playing at the Black Dahlia Theatre
