`Ganesh' offers a healing adventure

The Journal Sentinel staff

Elephantine is not exactly the term one would use to describe veteran Milwaukee actor and director Montgomery Davis, and godlike may be a bit of an overstatement. But Davis will be wearing an elephant head and playing the Hindu god Ganesha in the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre production of

"A Perfect Ganesh" that opens Saturday in the Broadway Theatre Center's Cabot Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. "A Perfect Ganesh" is a comedy written by hot playwright Terrence McNally, whose "Love! Valour! Compassion!" is a current Broadway hit. The Chamber Theatre staged McNally's "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune" 5 1/2 years ago, and his "Lips Together, Teeth Apart" was a huge success for Next Act Theatre several seasons past.

Using his gift for writing funny dialogue, McNally addresses his usual themes of compassion, healing and spirituality in "A Perfect Ganesh," according to Davis, the Chamber Theatre's artistic director. Hindu and Asian Indian culture is his frame of reference this time.

The story is about two troubled Connecticut matrons who take a trip to India together. One of the women lost her young son many years before when he darted into traffic, was struck and killed. She fears his death hardened her.

The other woman is mourning the more recent death of her adult gay son, who was beaten in a gay bashing incident. Relations with her son had been strained because of his homosexuality.

India offers the matrons an adventure. One of them thinks it may also heal their sorrow, and that becomes a possibility when Ganesha appears to them, acting as their guide and friend. Ganesha is the god of new beginnings. Physically expressed as a human form with an elephant head, he also is the god who removes obstacles.

In the play, Ganesha takes the form of different people who appear to the women, encouraging them and helping them break through the obstacles in their lives as they seek new beginnings. The matrons confront the issues of life and death that are so vivid in the extremes of sublime beauty and human misery found in India.

"I chose to do this play because it speaks to spiritual issues, which is something the theater should be about," Davis said in a recent interview. "It talks about healing, which is so important. The play makes the point that spirituality is blessed and good, and that spirituality does not judge, does not condemn. And it does all of this with a very light touch. The play is not preachy."

"A Perfect Ganesh" is being directed by Ralph Elias, artistic director of the Blackfriars Theatre of San Diego. Blackfriars is similar to the Chamber Theatre in size and artistic aesthetic.

The "Ganesh" cast includes Chamber Theatre co-founder Ruth Schudson, local theater artist C. Michael Wright and Chicago actress Marji Bank. It runs through April 23. Tickets for the show, which are $12 to $24, can be purchased at the Broadway Theatre Center box office or by calling 291-7800.

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