Sonoma Arts Live!’s ‘Sidekicked’ gives audience ‘I Love Lucy’ nostalgia
The current production of Sonoma Arts Live!, the wonderful local theater outfit headed by newly elected Sonoma Treasure Artist Jaime Love, concludes its run with three shows this weekend. As always, Sonoma Arts Live! is presenting the play on the Rotary Stage in Andrews Hall at Sonoma Community Center.
“Sidekicked” is a funny and insightful show about how the actor Vivian Vance was fearful of being all consumed by Ethel Mertz, a character she played on the “i Love Lucy” TV show for nine years. This was not just any role, and it was certainly not any old garden variety TV show: “I Love Lucy” was the most watched show in America, and Ethel was Lucy’s best friend and sidekick.
The character of Vance, played by Libby Oberlin, shares the anxieties that Vance harbored during those triumphant TV years. “Sidekicked” is set in Vance’s dressing room on the final night of taping. During the play, she spills her guts to an unseen analyst. After a lengthy run, it is time to move on.
Should she accept the starring role in the spinoff, “Fred and Ethel,” that has been offered her? Will her fans ever let her play another character, or is she doomed to play Ethel forever? Who is she?
“Sidekicked” was written by Kim Powers after he discovered that Vance had suffered a nervous breakdown early in her career. He wrote a script that allows her to share her TV life as Ethel, and in the process, the audience is allowed to revisit “I Love Lucy,” still considered one of the best television shows that ever aired.
Tickets to the Michael Ross-directed show are available at sonomaartslive.org. The final three performances will take place tonight and tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m., with the climactic performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
It is entirely serendipitous that Sonoma Arts Live! chose the play, “Sidekicked,” as its midwinter offering. When the final curtain drops, not only will the audience get a chance to applaud Oberlin’s singular effort on stage, but they will be able to express gratitude to Artistic Director Love and congratulate her for being the new Sonoma Treasure Artist.