The Wallis in Beverly Hills continues to be L.A.’s cultural destination with a one-person show that uncovers the life-shattering chaos of grief while celebrating gay expression.
By John Lavitt
Beverly Hill, CA (The Hollywood Times) 10-11-2024
“The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one’s love upon other human individuals.”
― George Orwell, In Front of Your Nose: 1945-1950
I feel the necessity of beginning this review with an apology. Although I saw “Sugar Daddy” almost a week ago, it has taken me quite a while to process what I experienced and begin putting those ideas into words. Mind you, this is not because I did not like what Sam Morrison created in the one-person show that he writes and stars in. Instead, I love what he bravely accomplishes in the show and genuinely want to do it justice. Still, in the stillness of the cultural zeitgeist, how could a heterosexual male critic effectively and safely express such feelings? It felt a bit like walking a minefield.
Expressing the meaning and sensation I took from this one-person performance is critical. For me, the show captures the essence of George Orwell’s brilliant reflection on what it means to be mortal when “one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one’s love upon other human individuals.” Morrison creates a profoundly funny expression of love and loss.
Directed with patience and precision by Stephen Brackett — one can only imagine the emotional battles as he reined in and honed the manic energy and chaotic feelings of the talented Morrison — “Sugar Daddy” takes over the stage of the Lovelace Theatre at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The one-person extravaganza tells the story of a young man falling in love with the man of his dreams in the gay paradise of Provincetown. Being a bear lover, which means he is attracted to older men with big bellies, Morrison could not believe his luck when he bumped into the portly Jonathan one summer night as a Category 3 Hurricane turned the gay-themed Spooky Bear Festival into a stormy threat.
Older and exactly his type, Jonathan opened the door to a romance that Sam never quite imagined for himself. He was not anything like a prototypical sugar daddy because he was not wealthy from a financial perspective. Instead, Jonathan was rich with belly laughs, kindness, and patience. Without warning, the romance of the young man’s life took off like a bullet train. Like so many fateful events, it proved too good to be true as the train came to a screeching halt with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stuck together in quarantine, Sam and Jonathan’s relationship is strained by the isolation but grows more profound and committed. Even if Jonathan loves Liza and Sam loves Lizzo, they are able to find common ground. The progress, however, was tragically stopped when Jonathan contracted COVID-19, which quickly worsened in the hospital. Indeed, his death and how Sam Morrison navigates the loss is the heart and soul of “Sugar Daddy.”
The Arnulfo Maldonado-designed stage is dominated by a massive round white object that becomes a hairy belly thanks to Alex Basco Koch’s expert video design. Morrison lovingly rubs this belly as he tells the story of his slow recovery from such a traumatic loss. At times, he screams out at lovers, muggers, and deadly seagulls, “I’m an anxious, asthmatic, ADHD, gay, diabetic Jew.”
Indeed, Morrison is sometimes all over the place, but such chaos makes sense in the show’s context. Isn’t grief chaotic as well? Doesn’t loss send us into a vertiginous spiral that is difficult to escape? The structure of chaos allows us to experience the reality.
As I watched the show with my girlfriend by my side, I was amazed at how much and how hard she was laughing. Born in Honduras and raised in Germany, English is her third language. Although shows that are so reliant on complex language can be challenging for her, she tuned right into Morrison’s narrative and humor. We both laughed and laughed while being amazed at how much the story affected us as we felt connected to the profundity of the loss. Although “Sugar Daddy” might not be everyone’s cup of tea, it was a wonderful experience for us.
