'Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous' lives up to its title, but the plot lumbers

There’s thing delightful astir plays astir expansive divas successful crisis.

The prima donna successful extremis successful Pearl Cleage’s “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous,” which is having its Los Angeles premiere astatine the Geffen Playhouse, has an aerial of Bette Davis extravagance to her. When Anna Campbell (Charlayne Woodard) struts astir her elegant edifice suite successful Atlanta, she can’t defy delivering 1 of Davis’ signature lines: “What a dump!”

She’s not astatine each dissatisfied with the accommodations. She’s conscionable frustrated that the upwind isn’t cooperating with her upcoming outdoor show and agitated that this mightiness beryllium a atrocious omen for her large American comeback.

More than 30 years ago, Anna and her manager and trusted companion, Betsy Samson (a formidable Denise Burse), fled to Europe connected the heels of a highbrow scandal. Anna made waves erstwhile she performed “Naked Wilson,” a protestation portion that had her delivering antheral monologues from August Wilson’s plays portion lasting stark bare earlier a divided audience.

The thought was to telephone attraction to the mode women person been de-centered successful the antheral canon, but immoderate felt it was sacrilege to taxable Wilson’s enactment to a feminist stunt. Acting opportunities dried up, and Anna high-tailed it to Amsterdam, wherever her histrionic grandeur was enactment to bully usage successful European classics.

Charlayne Woodard successful “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous” astatine Geffen Playhouse.

(Jeff Lorch)

Woodard brings Anna to beingness with a smokey voice, a statuesque beingness and an arch demeanor. When her arms are successful flamboyant motion, she leaves the content of a seductive windmill that mightiness portion you to bits if you travel excessively close.

The sumptuous production, directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson with solidarity for Cleage’s characters, provides a marvelous showcase for Woodward to slink astir connected Beowulf Boritt’s glamorous five-star acceptable successful costume decorator Emilio Sosa’s inspired Pucci-esque outfits. Her Anna doesn’t bash overmuch but springiness attitude. Ah, but what delicious cognition she gives!

Cleage’s play, it indispensable beryllium said, is hamstrung with exposition. More clip is devoted to mounting up the melodramatic concern than to activating it. Author of “Blues for an Alabama Sky,” a 1995 termination play inactive up of its time, Cleage is telling a backstage communicative that’s intelligibly adjacent to home. She’s besides spinning an intergenerational communicative of Black women groping past their archetypal distrust to a deeper knowing of what they person successful common.

The intentions are noble and the themes are handled with admirable complexity, but the penning is sluggish. The crippled is similar an aged car whose motor conscionable refuses to commencement connected a acold wintertime morning.

Anna has returned to Atlanta to header a festival that is rebooting her “Naked Wilson” piece. She’s disquieted astir disrobing astatine her age, but it turns retired that she’s lone being honored for her work. A overmuch younger and acold little experienced performer has been formed successful the portion that made her a origin célèbre.

Denise Burse, from left, Deborah Joy Winans, Charlayne Woodard and Olivia Washington successful “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous” astatine Geffen Playhouse.

(Jeff Lorch)

Precious Watson (Olivia Washington), who goes by Pete, has not lone ne'er performed successful a Wilson play but she’s ne'er adjacent seen 1 connected stage. She’s a stripper whose lone existent melodramatic acquisition has travel from the big amusement industry. (Don’t telephone her a porn star, not due to the fact that she’s ashamed of the films she made but due to the fact that she’s excessively humble astir her surface credits.)

Anna, her hauteur hardening similar a protective shell, is aghast. She’s besides fearful astir her future. She’s tally retired of money, and this festival was to person launched her instrumentality to the U.S.

Betty, whose destiny is tied to Anna’s, has been dangling the imaginable of a nationalist tour. But erstwhile Kate Hughes (an appealingly grounded Deborah Joy Winans), the shaper of the festival, hears of this idea, she thinks it’s wholly unrealistic.

“I emotion Anna,” she tells Betty. “ I’m honoring Anna, but determination conscionable isn’t an assemblage for the benignant of presumption you’re talking about.”

Time marches on, and 1 era’s sensational renegade becomes a footnote successful the next. But Anna can’t judge that each she holds ineffable — study, discipline, seriousness, committedness — is of small worth successful the societal media world.

Deborah Joy Winans, left, and Denise Burse successful “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous” astatine Geffen Playhouse.

(Jeff Lorch)

Pete (whom Washington plays with awesome self-possession) doesn’t look astatine each bothered astir what she doesn’t know. Anna keeps prefacing her remarks with the words “no offense,” but Pete can’t assistance being offended by her pointed disdain. Their standoff energizes the play, but this jolt of momentum comes a small excessively late.

“Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous” is not conscionable the title. It’s besides a crippled summary. The gorgeous portion is the richness of Cleage’s characters, radiantly realized by each 4 actors nether Jackson’s lukewarm direction.

Cleage gives the women plentifulness of substance, though her novelistic mode — much telling than showing — deprives her play of style. The elegant staging tries to compensate, but the performers person to trust a small excessively heavy connected their ain charms to marque up the quality successful a play that swerves unexpectedly astatine the extremity into a cutesy fairy tale.