STAGE WEST: "One of the Good Ones" at Old Globe Theatre

Left to right: Cree, Nico Greetham, Benito Martinez and Angelique Cabral in "One of the Good Ones." Photo by Rich Soublet II

            Its impressive cast of Oscar winners (Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Sidney Poitier) wasn’t enough to prevent 1967’s “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?” from being a grim, even turgid 108 minutes on screen. So props to television writer Gloria Calderon Kellett (“One Day at a Time”) for taking essentially the same premise – a pampered, only-child daughter brings home a surprise paramour to meet the parents – and wringing loads of laughter from it.
             Calderon Kellett’s “One of the Good Ones” requires only 86 minutes of our attention, but every minute of her first full-length play counts. In fact, there so many twists, turns and shocks in this onstage affair that it’s like Calderon Kellett compressed a six-episode sitcom into just one. This expands the bounds of believability to a certain extent as one surprise is quickly trumped by another.
            Naturally the primary surprise in this comedy at the Old Globe is self-proclaimed Latine daughter Yoli (Cree) introducing her “serious boyfriend" Marcos to her folks (Benito Martinez as Enrique and Angelique Cabral as Ilana, both of them slow- and sometimes fast-burn hilarious). The name Marcos is deceptive. Though born in Mexico and fully fluent in Spanish, the America-raised young man (Nico Greetham) looks very white. If that sounds uncomfortable to read or say, it’s very much in line with what identity and racial dynamics Calderon Kellett is exploring within the play’s comic situations.
            Just to recap (that’s a line that Enrique uses several times during the action when he’s trying to get a grasp on whatever revelation has shaken the proceedings): He is of Cuban heritage, born in America. Spanish speaking. Wife Ilana is of Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage, born in America. Speaks no Spanish to speak of. (Opening fun is had with her over-trying to communicate with the man delivering flowers for the festive evening, awkwardly offering him “agua,” for example.) Daughter Yoli is a recent college grad, born in America, not only Spanish speaking but righteously championing every enlightened plank in the book and challenging her parents to get with it.
            Then there’s Marcos, who arrives at the Pasadena house (gorgeous set by Takeshi Kata, by the by) with a bottle of wine and … a pinata. That gives you an idea of his earnest if wildly misguided strategy for winning over his true love’s folks. The pinata will become the show’s sixth “cast member,” but you’ll learn how for yourself in an audience. (The production runs for three more weeks.)
            Calderon Kellett’s characters are overdrawn to suit high comedy, though both Martinez’s Enrique and Cabral’s Ilana have enough real-world relatability and humanity for us to enjoy them, to sympathize with them, to recognize and understand their flaws as well as their good parental intentions. Greetham’s Marcos is all over the place and difficult to get a handle on – at some points, he’s insufferably buzzwordy and clueless, at others sincerely, almost likably attempting to please everyone.
            No dis to the single-named Cree as an actor, but her Yoli may be the most grating character I’ve seen onstage so far this year. Her preachiness is one thing. Her self-absorption, to the extent of even hanging her beloved Marcos out to dry, makes her nearly impossible to care about.
            Calderon Kellett is an experienced pro with snappy comedy dialogue (besides “One Day at a Time,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Jane the Virgin,” “Dead to Me,” et al) and as a colleague of the late, great Norman Lear she’s well attuned to writing the sort of story “One of the Good Ones” strives to tell. Combine that with an excellent director, Kimberly Senior (La Jolla Playhouse’s notable “The Who and the What” in 2014), and this production bounces along with nary a dead spot as one “I-can’t-believe-he(she)-said that!” moment follows on another.
            The presence of Martinez and Cabral gifts Calderon Kellett’s play with the charm and comic timing required of parents characters who are navigating (that’s one of Yoli’s words – sorry) generational, cultural and racial identity issues at the same time that they’re trying to support the daughter they truly love. Like Marcos, Enrique and Ilana can mis-speak, and like most parents do, they tend to over-react, but they’re two of the good ones.
            So are Martinez and Cabral.
            “One of the good Ones” runs through June 22 at the Old Globe in Balboa Park.