Realistic Delivery, Troubling Message in ‘Girl’

First produced in 1950, Clifford Odets’ fascinating but flawed “The Country Girl,”now at the Colony, has worn a bit thin through the decades. Celebrated in its day for its psychological complexity, Odets’ drama about a has-been actor who has ruined his career through drink, and the long-suffering wife who ultimately redeems him, rises and falls on the jarring supposition that a person can somehow “save” an alcoholic through tenacity, loyalty and sheer personal sacrifice--a conclusion that would send any self-respecting member of Al-Anon screaming up the aisle marked “Exit.”

Placing such serious sociological quibbles aside, however, Odets’ period piece retains a vibrancy and thrust that makes it eminently watchable. Director Tim O’Hare keeps the action subtle and real--but knows when to overblow a character for comic effect.

A case in point is appealing Kelly Foran as a young playwright--all knees, elbows and boyish earnestness. On the other side of the scale, but equally amusing, is Kurt A. Boesen as a dour and nasty theatrical producer who couldn’t crack a smile in a feather factory explosion.

With his crashing mood swings and crushing insecurities, Frank Elgin, the boozy former star, would be a safe bet for a modern-day diagnosis of bipolar disorder. In the standout performance of the evening, Robert Budaska keeps Frank stringently sympathetic--no mean feat considering Frank’s contemptible treatment of his wife, Georgie. As Georgie, Melissa Hanson occasionally overdoes the suffering martyr routine, marring an otherwise appealing performance. Gil Bernardy plays Bernie Dodd, the first theatrical director to hire Frank in a decade, as a savvy city slicker, hard-boiled on the outside but a marshmallow on the inside--a solid if standard portrayal of a typical Odets hero.

*

* “The Country Girl,” Colony Studio Theatre, 1944 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles. Saturdays, 2 p.m.; Sundays, 7 p.m.; Tuesdays-Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Ends Dec. 4. (No performance next Wednesday.) $10. (323) 665-3011. Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes.