Soho Playhouse has brought Edinburgh Fringe productions to New York.
These productions are widely varied. They range from the perfect revenge story (The Amazing Sex Life of Rabbits) to a very different way to raise money (Body Count) to a touching description of growing up Muslim in Florida (Heavenly Baba). And now, straight from its award-winning run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is Lost in Del Valle.
Ned Van Zandt has written Lost in Del Valle. He also acts in this one-man production. The sub-title, A True Story of Sex, Drugs, Rock n’ Roll, and Redemption, basically summarizes the plot. Van Zandt opens by saying he’s lost, both in his life and location. He leads viewers from overdose recovery to the Chelsea Hotel in New York, LA’s music scene, and finally, the Travis County Correctional Complex in Del Valle. The show recounts Zandt’s story. The confused plot undermines the production.
He moves through time with little warning. Starting in the mid-2000s, Zandt winds back through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The story jumps from an arrest for possession of drugs in Texas to the wild atmosphere of the Chelsea Hotel in the 1970s, through the drug-fed Los Angeles music scene alongside his friend Chaka Khan, to the cacophony and fear of a Texas prison.
He parties with Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungeon and then hops to a prison episode with pornography created from a JCPenney Swimwear Catalog. Telling the story in chronological order would have made the arc of his life clearer. Ned Van Zandt saves the show. His dynamic performance guides the audience through the narrative as he skillfully embodies each character. Mike Moore’s guitar intensifies the scenes.
The one constant throughout Van Zandt’s life is his drive to be an actor. He says that acting is basically make-believe – listening and telling stories. Whether he is performing on Broadway, acting in One Life to Live, or roleplaying with the leader of the Aryan Brotherhood in Del Valle, acting dominates his life. Here he is telling the story of his life. His acting talent and skill draw us into this occasionally fragmented, often hilarious, and brutally honest account. For an hour and five minutes, we are swept into his raw, honest tale.
