"His Dirty Little Secret"
Imagine you’re a “well-knownish” actress, married, with twin
sons and a daughter, and still in love with your husband of two decades,
himself a successful actor and film/TV director. Your bedroom relationship may
have cooled off but not enough to block you thinking of him as a terrific dad
and spouse, your “friend and confidante and true-blue love.”
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| Maddie Corman. Photo: Jeremy Daniel. |
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| Maddie Corman. Photo: Jeremy Daniel. |
That’s the fulcrum for this one-woman, self-described “inspiring
true story,” of what happened to Maddie Corman (Some Kind of Wonderful) after she learned four years ago of her
husband’s dirty little secret; you can read up on it in this
recent New York Times account. He—unnamed in the show—is Jace Alexander (son of
the distinguished actress Jane
Alexander), who was convicted in 2016 of downloading and sharing child pornography.
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| Maddie Corman. Photo: Jeremy Daniel. |
Sometimes one wonders how anyone living a normal life, celebrity
or not, recovers from learning that a beloved spouse or child has been doing horrible
things (violent, financial, sexual, or otherwise) and will possibly be taken
from them. Corman’s confessional show, partly self-therapy and partly
inspirational exposé for those with related problems, is a humdinger, not so
much because of the sensationalism of its subject matter but for the engagingly
performative way she addresses and relates her tale.
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| Maddie Corman. Photo: Jeremy Daniel. |
Corman is 49, blonde, and enviously slim (she often refers
to herself as “skinny”) in her tight-fitting jeans and white t-shirt (sometimes
covered by a stylish, loose, gray sweater). She moves like a dancer on Jo
Winiarski’s setting of a sparsely furnished stage, dominated at center by an orange office-chair.
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| Maddie Corman. Photo: Jeremy Daniel. |
Behind her is a neutral, semicircular backdrop on which Elaine
J. McCarthy’s still and video projections are displayed, many depicting Corman
and her spouse. This tightly packaged work, lovingly lit by Jamie Roderick, and
including gestures perfectly timed to Bart Fasbender’s clever sound design, is
overseen by the nicely-paced direction of Kristin Hanggi (Rock of Ages).
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| Maddie Corman. Photo: Jeremy Daniel. |
Accidentally Brave
tells Corman's story (“her story,” she emphasizes, not her husband’s, which is his
to tell) chronologically, with projections informing us how much time has passed
in the proceedings. We learn about her husband’s legal issues, the outpouring
of sympathy and disgust he incited in news and social media, and both his rehabilitation
at an Arizona center for addiction problems and the rehab he had to undergo
with his family, with whom he still lives (albeit registered as a sex offender).
Along the way, Corman, who continues to struggle daily with her
issues, discovers that she’s something she never had any intention of being—brave.
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| Maddie Corman. Photo: Jereemy Daniel. |
Corman’s a very talented actress with a perkily friendly,
accessible personality. She’s capable of radically altering her somewhat high-pitched,
mildly raspy voice to suggest other persons, like the famous stranger (unnamed)
who, when everyone and her sister were unable to offer meaningful advice, reached
out like a guardian angel to say just the right things. Corman has the chameleonic
skills to spark warm laughter, to make her eyes well with tears, and to plunge
into terrifying anger. Several moments are as overpoweringly expressive as
anything on a New York stage.
Corman alludes to the difficulties of dealing with
addiction, sexual and otherwise, but is mainly concerned with portraying her personal
reaction to her husband’s sickness, an experience from which you’re invited to
take away whatever value it may have for you and your loved ones.
While some preachments are implicit in it, the show’s never
preachy. Here’s hoping, though, you won’t one day find yourself needing to be accidentally brave.
DR2 Theatre
103 E. 15th St., NYC
Through July 14
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