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‘One of the Good Ones’ Review: Pasadena Playhouse’s Cross-Cultural Comedy Brings a Norman Lear Sensibility to the Stage
'One of the Good Ones,' premiering in Pasadena, has the co-creator of the 'One Day at a Time' reboot bringing a Norman Lear sensibility to theater.
In the play “One of the Good Ones,” which is having its world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse, playwright Gloria Calderón Kellett (who co-created Netflix’s “One Day at a Time” reboot) treats the basic structure of the 1967 Hepburn-Tracy-Poitier film as if it’s still as sturdy as ever. Gomez, one of the original cast members of Broadway’s “In the Heights,” scales some fresh peaks here as a guy who’s transparently benevolent even in his hotter-headed moments — his initial fits of pride and pique giving way to the kind of slower burn that offers a clear indication he’s actually melting. He does finally start wisening up about the situation at hand, with lines like: “While I acknowledge the current vibe is heavy, I feel light within the gravitas.” Acted differently, it might be a potentially thankless role, but Greetham ultimately gets a surprising number of good laughs out of it, before and after his cheerfully woke intellectualism thaws into something more recognizably human.
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