“The Edge: Most Wanted” is a page-to-stage workshop production by the La Jolla Playhouse, and even though the show that took place on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 was its inaugural production, this is a thoroughly engaging piece of theater that all patrons of the arts would do well to see. Based very loosely on the murder of Gianni Versace by Andrew Cunanan, “Most Wanted” follows the story of a boy of Filipino heritage who comes from nothing and desires to have everything, a desire he is willing to make into a reality by whatever means necessary. Written by Jessica Hagedorn, whose “Dogeaters” also received its premiere at The La Jolla Playhouse and went on to wow critics and patrons alike and still be read and studied to this day, this play’s storyline was created in coordination with Mark Bennett. For his part, Bennett composed the show’s score and he came together with Hagedorn to co-write the lyrics to the show, while Michael Greif - whose “Rent” also premiered at The La Jolla Playhouse and who has gone on to make quite a name for himself in the world of American theater - directed. “Most Wanted” is one show you ought not to miss!
Hagedorn’s story is deliciously well-woven, painting a crazy, dirty, wild party that is peeled away layer by layer to reveal a severely troubled young man, Danny Reyes, who for his entire life strove to create himself into something he was not, relying on others to bring him to the ends which he so fiercely believed he deserved. To be sure, the heart of the storyline is a harsh look at humans’ cotemporary obsession with wealth, fame, and the culture of celebrity. However, the heartbreaking intensity with which the character of Danny is described only makes his fall all the more heartbreaking even as the audience understands that such is the only way he could possibly have ended the saga that had become his life. Due to the fact that the murder of Gianni Versace by Andrew Cunanan was simply the jumping off point for this storyline, and that the story itself is for all intents and purposes fictional, Hagedorn was able to take some truly breathtaking leaps with her characters, bringing her lead-male-murderer into contact with a reporter who is also clawing for a bright future that is seemingly kept from her.
Hagedorn’s script could undoubtedly stand on its own, especially given the fact that the songs woven throughout this musical are largely forgettable and save for a select few, could easily be cut en masse. However, it is the savvy use of space by Scenic Designer Steve C. Kemp that turns La Jolla Playhouse’s Forum Theater in everything from the world of Uncle Buck’s nightclub wherein the sordid life and times of Danny Reyes are narrated by the delightful drag queen Stormy Leather, to the homes of Reyes’ childhood and his numerous rendezvous throughout the course of his lifetime. Additionally, the lighting design as helmed by Tom Ontiveros solicits intensity in a surprisingly subtle capacity, otherwise providing the kind of necessary stage lighting that renders the characters visible, but does not necessarily serve to offer any mood-setting devices. In the same capacity, Clint Ramos’ costumes are non-descript although his dolling-up of Stormy Leather’s exquisitely fantastic costumes and wigs is flawless, and his choice of attire for Danny Reyes in the second act - as the character truly begins to hurtle towards his unavoidable ending - is simply clever in its choice of deep, dark shades of burgundy and black.
Without a doubt, it is the cast of this show that truly brings Hagedorn’s words to life, and it is they who will keep this play in the phenomenal status it is in upon this reviewer’s viewing. Of note are the three main characters in this play - the starving-for-a-story reporter Elizabeth Mitchell, portrayed with a strength of character and a voice to match by Merle Dandridge, the exquisitely maternal Stormy Leather as played by the renowned Ken Page, and the heartbreakingly desperate Danny Reyes, played with awe-inspiring power and precision by Daniel Torres. While the songs presented to each are sadly lacking in any memorable qualities, these three bring their all not only to the characters they encompass and breathe life into, but also to the vocal demands of the show. Dandridge’s vocal power is almost too powerful for the amount of amplification the stage mikes grant, and for the small amount of space in which her stunning sound waves have in which to move. The ability Dandridge has to make the audience respect and like Elizabeth Mitchell, is also truly engaging. For this allows the audience to root for Elizabeth to do the right thing and get herself out of a potentially dangerous and shameful situation until we learn an ending that puts this reporter at the same low rungs of desperation for celebrity that her subject fall towards.
Ken Page’s range is truly and delightfully surprising, flowing effortlessly from the deepest baritone to a truly effeminate head-voice, moved between with surprising ease. The heartbreaking strength with which Page creates Stormy Leather into a willing narrator of the lives of characters with whom he can never truly interact due to his self-situated status as a drag queen who is no member of any “gender” or role within society, makes him all the more loveable because he cannot truly take in such emotion as the character he has become.
It is Daniel Torres’ Danny Reyes, however, that truly steals the show - bringing Hagedorn’s strong script to terrifying life, and taking it to heights that a lesser actor would be unable to manage. With a voice that boasts as much fluidity and power as his acting skills, Torres could have easily made his character tangible through simply the words he sings. However, Torres very adamantly molds a character that grows from a boy striving for a future his absentee father tells him he deserves and making up any lie necessary to be accepted by those who already live that life, to a truly stunted and scarred adult who knows only how to be that which he is not, only being able to recognize himself as a gay male, but losing the one person who could give Reyes the love he could never give to himself. As one character stresses when Danny’s murder of a famous fashion designer is spun by the media into a “gay act;” “A very troubled boy did some very terrible things. P.S. He happened to murder someone famous. P.P.S. He happened to be gay.” It is Daniel Torres’ creation of Danny Reyes as a desperate and abandoned man that showcases this as being fact, not circumstance.
With the rampant drug use, partial male nudity and sexual overtures as well as male-on-male kissing, the less-progressive among the theater-going public may re-think attending this show. However, should they decide to bow out of attending, it will be they who are so sorely missing a show that truly ought to be witnessed by every member of contemporary American society.

“The Edge: Most Wanted” plays at The La Jolla Playhouse, located at 2910 La Jolla Village Dr., La Jolla, CA 92037, through October 14, 2007. For tickets call the box office at (858) 550-1010.