Review: BEVERLY HILLS HOTEL PEACE TALKS at Coachella Valley Repertory

Following its successful 2024-25 season, Coachella Valley Repertory is offering an entertaining bonus now through June 1, 2025--the world premiere of Gregg Ostrin's Beverly Hills Hotel Peace Talks.  It is definitely a show worth seeing.

Ostrin's dialogue grabbed me from the first line.  Although the play does not adhere strictly to the comedy genre, I found myself and the audience laughing at his skill in handling characterization and verbalizing both Hollywood and political clichés.  Although he telegraphs a few punches, the writing is as smooth as silk.  

If "peace talks" suggests an effort to avert an international crisis, you're somewhere in the ballpark.  If "Beverly Hills Hotel" suggests the famous Polo Lounge where Hollywood elite meet to booze, news, and shmooze, you're also on the ballpark--although the shmoozing is about to take place inside the hotel's iconically pink suites.

The play is set in 1967, shortly after The Six Day War, when Israel invaded Egypt over the rights of Israel to pass through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea.  That, in fact, was a geopolitical crisis.  As the name reveals, Israel won that war in less than a week--for the time being.  What happens next, re-ignites hostilities.

During the filming of  Funny Girl, Columbia Pictures releases a publicity photo of Omar Sharif (an Egyptian man) kissing co-star Barbra Streisand (a Jewish woman superstar).  All hell breaks loose in that geographical tinder box.  Egypt threatens to get an injunction against the studio's $14 million film. Israel isn't too happy either. So producer Ray Stark arranges a negotiation by diplomats from the two aggrieved countries and himself.  We know how the story ends:  the film is released in 1968 (except in Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) to critical acclaim.  What happens in the hotel suite is a different story.

Tabloids have made moviegoers aware that the "chemistry" they see on screen between co-stars is often an extension of real life. At that point in history, Egypt did not share that awareness.  A Muslim man and a Jewish woman having an affair?  As Tevye would would have said, "Unthinkable!"  The notion must have raised and eyebrow or two around the world because both actors strongly denied any involvement.  I am not here to discuss the sexual peccadillos of A-listers.  So if you're intrigued, I hear that Streisand includes an explanation in her new autobiography.

Geri-Nicole Love (Freddie) portrays an intelligent, insightful, clever, courageous woman who happens to be black.  Her performance is a gem.  But would a 1967 Freddie, who had to be deferential to attain her position, would ever have the guts to be smart-ass in her relationship with studio executives.  A 2025 Freddie might.  We see it now in film and television characters.  Although a departure from bygone attitudes doesn't diminish the character's attributes or Love's performance, it was unexpected.  I'm guessing that the lines or the direction gave Freddie permission.

Josh Breslow (Shelly Ross) exemplifies very well the hundreds, thousands of Jews who anglicized their last names to avoid discrimination. I'm glad Ostrin gives the character a come-to-realize moment.  Having worked at a studio, I met many young, ambitious men and women who exude an ADHD energy, which is either their secret sauce or their downfall. Josh, your performance in the opening scene was so "high" that I was curious to see how you'd take advantage of the predictable but unanticipated situation, i.e. the phone call.   Had I not read it in the program, I wouldn't know that this performance was the professional debut of Olivia Zane Coen (Dahlia), the Israeli negotiator.  Her poise in taking and holding the stage is characteristic of an actor with years of experience and training.  Since actors continue to develop throughout their careers, I predict Olivia is on track for a great future.  The Israeli accent could be a little more authentic, but I'm probably the only one who noticed.

Ali Zahiri (Rami) certainly looks the part of a young Egyptian negotiator, and he  performs the role well. But wow, is Rami angry!  He is so angry that sometimes I didn't understand what Ali was saying--although the anger is loud and clear.  I wish I could have learned more about Rami's character.  Did I miss it or wasn't it in the script?

This takes me to a note for Costume Designer Hannah Chalman.  I have no idea what an Egyptian diplomat would have worn to a negotiation in the United States in 1967.  With his government threatening to pull the plug on a Hollywood film, would Rami show up in western-style clothing at that moment in history?  Perhaps a costume change from kandura and keffiyeh to a business suit would support Rami's character as well as punctuate the transition that takes place.  

I have a similar notion about Dahlia's costuming. She is former military, and at the age of 23, her country's representative.  Initially, her appearance offers no hint of the strength and determination it would take to reach that level of responsibility.  I respect your judgment as the expert.  But her costume change into black tights was distracting.

Enunciation, anticipation, and pacing--I nag the director of any show with actors who use an accent unfamiliar to the audience. The New York audience will be different from a Coachella Valley audience.  Many of us wear hearing aids or, if not, need hearing aids.  Director and actors hear the lines repeatedly.  The audience hears them once.  For the sake of the playwright who chooses words carefully and for the audience who wants to get it, please remind the cast to speak clearly, especially when they turn upstage.

Kudos to Gregg Ostrin for grinding so many axes in an entertaining way. I wish him and his team all the mazel in the world for the New York run and beyond.  I'll be on the lookout for the reviews. For tickets and further information, go to CVRep.org.

   

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