R.O.I. (Return on Investment) ★★★ BANG

We didn't manage to catch SF Playhouse's production of R.O.I. (Return on Investment) at the Creativity Theater until close to the end. Sorry to say (but happy for the Playhouse) the show is sold out for the rest of the run. But you will hear of this one again.

This is a breakout role for Lauren English. She's tough and she's sharp and she's also manipulative and out of her mind, but we don't see what's happening for awhile. She plays Willa, a scientist who has (we all believe) come up with a cure for cancer. She has come to May Lee (Sharon Shao), an employee at the Montrose Fund, headed up by Paul Montrose (Anthony Fusco) with her idea, and Paul and May Lee immediately spot her as a unicorn, someone with a billion dollar idea. The race is on to grab investors for her and cash in.

If you think this is a feel-good story about creating something wonderful for humanity, think again. Greed, as always, is an equal partner.

We weren't nuts about Anthony Fusco's reading of Paul. He seemed too childish for us to believe he was a great player in the world of finance. Sharon Shao, who plays May Lee, on the other hand, was perfect for her role as someone who believes in Paul until...well, that's what the play is about.

Politics, corruption, noble ideas turning into cash cows. Yup. Nothing new here.

RATINGS ★★★ BANG

The San Francisco Theater Blog Hi-Tech Award Division grants Three Stars with a Bangle of Praise to Aaron Loeb's "R.O.I. (Return on Investment)." Keep this one in your rolodex and catch it next time.

R.O.I. (Return on Investment)

Creativity Theater

Yerba Buena Gardens, San Francisco

Through Sept. 5 ONLY

"The White Chip" ★ ?

We all love happy endings. We need them. But this one scares me. I fear the sugary conclusion to Sean Daniels's "The White Chip," running through September at Marin Theatre, may influence my fellow reviewers to speak fondly of a show that does not feel ready for Prime Time. Caught between the desire to speak about the horror of alcoholism and the decision to use slapstick to attempt to get the audience laughing at a serious problem, "The White Chip" accomplishes neither. 

Young Steven is an alcoholic. But there is little explanation for his self-destructive behavior, short of "It makes me feel good," so we must watch a solid ninety minutes of denial/rehab/bender/tears/promises/lies with little understanding about why this young man seems so paralyzed by alcohol. We already know alcoholism is nasty, but why THIS alcoholic? 

Steven, played by Benjamin Clark, does a fine job with the task he has been given on stage -- to attempt to work around his two chirpy supporting actors who giggle and frown and hurl props onto the stage. Each time this happens, the motion of the story is interrupted. Steven even tosses jokes at "the four people in the top row who understood that one," breaking the fourth wall like an audition at a comedy club.

Before the show begins, Director Lance Gardner makes the announcement that he is celebrating twenty years of sobriety and that he feels his life has been saved by this action. Of course, we all applaud his bravery. Perhaps Gardner is trying to soften the pain that he remembers from his own life by instructing Danny Scheie and Lindsey Kail, both playing multiple roles, to make light of every word that comes out of their mouths. 

There are some good lines: Scheie, as a tough Jesus-touting counselor, says: "You're not confused! You're just fused with your con!" 

But then he says, "You need to see the Jews," and we are incomprehensibly taken to Scheie and Kail playing two Jewish counselors, with terrible accents, who toss in every stereotype while teaching Steven about science and chemistry.

To be fair, the glib Mormon insults at the beginning of the play are in even worse taste.

RATINGS: ★?

The San Francisco Theater Blog Awards Division grants "The White Chip" One Star with a Question Mark. The star is for Benjamin Clark who is engaging and believable. The Question Mark is because perhaps we caught a show before it was ready. It will be interesting to see how this cast can bring either more understanding or less silliness into their performances. Either will do, but both would make "The White Chip" feel a little less tipsy. 

"The White Chip"

Marin Theatre

397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley

Through 9-20-26

$39-$110