‘Getting and Spending’ Lifts the Spirit With Good Humor

SAN DIEGO —  “Getting and Spending” is a modern morality play about worldly goods and worldly good. Although its contrivances sometimes stick out, it does stir the conscience while entertaining the spirit.

Michael J. Chepiga’s humorous drama, at the Old Globe Theatre, centers on Victoria Phillips, a Wall Street whiz under federal indictment for accumulating $18 million through insider trading.

She’s not just another greedy shark--she used the money for charitable causes like constructing apartments for the homeless. Vicki knows she’s guilty--she didn’t think she’d get caught--but she doesn’t believe she deserves jail.

So she hies to Kentucky, where Richard O’Neill, the country’s best defense lawyer, has retired--to a monastery. Beaten down by all the principles he’s had to compromise, he plans to join a Franciscan order and spend the rest of his life in contemplation and prayer.

Richard, handsome and resolute, resists taking the case, particularly because he’s near a deadline for committing himself to the novitiate. But intrigued by Vicki’s apparent determination to use her money to help people--not to mention that, in the words of one of the longtime monks, “she’s a babe”--he relents and obtains permission to handle her defense.

As you probably expect, he does it well, deflecting an ironclad case and a no-nonsense judge. There remains, however, one major revelation and then one question (if this surprises you, skip over to the TV listings): Will Vicki and Richard turn their mutual attraction into love and togetherness?

Chepiga has leavened this central tale with an abundance of gags, mostly from the peripheral characters. Chief among them is a tag-along brother from the monastery (he runs a play-money investment club within the order, and envisions its Web site: “monk.com”).

Director John Tillinger keeps the pace brisk enough to scurry past skepticism on such matters as the play’s time frame, and he elicited solid performances. As Vicki, the most developed character, Linda Purl roams the whole range, credibly tough and tender. James Morrison, as Richard, does better at being strait-laced than emotional, although his courtroom defense is strong and passionate.

As the brother quick with a quip, Derek Smith resembles Nathan Lane, in appearance and sly delivery. Debra Mooney gives the right drollery to unindicted co-conspirator Mother (she invested using her daughter’s tips and the names of her nursing-home patients). And Maclntyre Dixon keeps the judge’s sarcasm and wisecracks believable.

The tech work is highlighted--literally--by the key feature of James F. Noone’s plain but evocative set. Horizontal and vertical bars, containing rows of lights, slide across, up and down to compartmentalize the stage and define the setting--one moment they represent a stock ticker, the next a cross. The block furniture is utilitarian but warm, and Kevin Adams’ lighting illuminates those bars and locates the scenes with background projections.

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* “Getting and Spending,” Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park, San Diego. Tuesdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Ends Sept. 5. $23-$39. (619) 239-2255. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.