In its world premiere in 2012 at New York’s Public Theater, the central figure in “Wild with Happy” was played by the playwright himself, the man of the hour, Colman Domingo.
A former Bay Area theater artist now on the national scene as an Oscar- and Tony-nominated film star and multi-award-winner for his performances, Domingo must have reached deep within to write this comic drama about Gil, an aspiring young actor in New York who’s come back home to deal with the unexpected death of his beloved mother.
Gil is so immersed in grief, he has trouble making decisions about, well, anything. Everything he says and does, in his role as next of kin—particularly his decision to cremate the body—is anathema to his strong-minded Aunt Glo.
As central and sympathetic a figure as Gil is, in the New Conservatory Theatre Center production onstage in San Francisco, it’s Aunt Glo who emerges as the most dominant figure in the play. That’s largely because Carla BaNu DeJesus is such a remarkable actor: intense, funny and, even in this larger-than-life persona, totally believable every second.
The gifted DeJesus also plays the role, and beautifully, of Gil’s deceased mother, Adelaide, so convincingly, it’s almost hard to believe it’s actually the same actor. In a long and hilarious monologue just prior to her death, Adelaide claims she’s been placed under a curse. Later, we see other sides of her.
This touching, funny play is unfortunately unbalanced under the direction of ShawnJ West. As Gil, Marcus J. Paige is a cipher. His tendency is to mug rather than to connect to true and deep emotion. And as his best friend, Mo, James Arthur M. is distractingly over-the-top wacky.
But Samuel del Rosario as a funeral home director who bonds emotionally (and physically, as it happens) with Gil is particularly nuanced and vulnerable in the role.
L-R, Samuel del Rosario, Carla BaNu DeJesus and James Arthur M. appear in New Conservatory Theatre Center’s “Wild with Happy” onstage through April 6 in San Francisco. (Lois Tema/New Conservatory Theatre Center via Bay City News)
Domingo carefully traces the arc of Gil’s ambivalent journey through anger, despair and various levels of fractious interactions with the other characters. That Gil arrives at a new kind of empathy for others and peace within himself is well-earned. The one-act play, although short and without an intermission, is just the right length for his fraught journey.
And though the “wild with happy” fairytale-ish ending is sentimental, Domingo’s writerly instincts, as seen here (he’s written several other plays), are a close runner-up to his acting prowess.
“Wild with Happy” continues through April 6, 2025 at New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco. Tickets are $35-$54 at nctcsf.org.
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