I saw Love All, the Billie Jean King play (review)

Not long ago, I enjoyed the revival of the Tony Award nominated Twilight : Los Angeles 1992, a play written by Anna Deveare Smith. Maybe I should say “composed”, because the words were taken directly from interviews with real people about the Los Angeles riots. A technique referred to as verbatim theater.

Smith’s latest play, Love All, which is making its world premiering at the La Jolla Playhouse, uses dialog written in a more traditional way. But the show has a lot of source material to work with, in the form of public speeches and tv appearances, many of which are very cleverly reproduced live on stage.

Love All tells the life story of superstar tennis player Billie Jean King, focusing on her battle for parity in womens’ sports and parity in other aspects of society. It touches on several topics of inequality that sadly still exist today.

What works

Chilina Kennedy’s portrayal of the title character is brilliant. She really captures the energy and drive that allowed Billie Jean King to be one of the most successful female athletes of all time. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her; completely engaging.

Love All’s relatively sparse staging, basically benches on either side of the stage and some staircases, makes great use of projections on the back wall. Sometimes, the projection is simply seats around a tennis court, but occasionally historical clips are shown to give context. One clip, a speech by Robert F Kennedy, I found particularly moving and well placed (wipes small tear from eye).

The show is fast paced, maybe even to a fault, but I never lost interest. I found myself on the edge of my seat wondering what will happen next, and also what will Billie Jean’s next wig look like. Spoiler: amazing.

What doesn’t work

Diana the Musical. No, seriously. I’m drawing a(n unfair) comparison because I saw Diana on the same stage, pre-Broadway, at La Jolla Playhouse. A big difference between the two is Diana is a musical, and the music, which was less than stellar, made the show hard to enjoy. Love All skips the songs and instead focuses on the story and the relationships between the characters over time. The energy of the dialog more than made up for the absence of songs. Maybe Diana should be redone as a play (but be sure to keep the F*** You Dress song. That one was fun.)

Fun Fact

Elton John’s Philadelphia Freedom was written as a favor to Billie Jean King to help promote her team at the time, The Philadelphia Freedoms.