This, as Lecesne's dazzling transitions occur with a quick turnaround of his body or with a twist of his head. The evidence of a heinous crime appears when Gloria Salzano, the widow of a mobster sees one of the flip-flops floating on the lake near her home.Īll these characters with their various quirks and characteristics add to our understanding and to the mystery. Besides Ellen, there is her sixteen year-old daughter Phoebe, Ellen's gravel-voiced (from chain smoking) friend, the kindly old proprietor in the clock repair shop and Buddy Howard, the very English artistic head of the local community theater and dance academy who understand Leonard and offer background and credulity. There is the distinct possibility of foul play. After twenty four hours, it is brought to the attention of the detective who immediately begins listening to the various people who know the boy. What is taken most seriously however, is Leonard's sudden disappearance.
But he is also evidently a joyous, entertaining and an inspiration to many of the more reserved ladies in town, especially those who frequent the local beauty salon owned by the boy's possible aunt/guardian Ellen Hertle, where his advice on style is taken quite seriously. Flitting around the shopping venues in multi-colored, multi-layered flip-flops of his own creation, Leonard is a fashion statement non pareil and undoubtedly easy to spot. Spectacularly uninhibited and definitely weird, Leonard is one of a kind and certainly noticed in the small conservative Jersey shore town in which he lives. All of this comes to vivid realization through the dramatic artistry of the incredibly talented Lecesne who, as the tough investigative detective with a spot-on New Jersey accent Chuck DeSantis, narrates the story. In it, Leonard Pelkey, a fourteen year-old boy has gone missing and a host of his acquaintances and friends are seeking answers and looking for clues. Lecesne brought the play's title character initially to fruition in his young adult novel, Absolute Brightness, is acutely felt if never actually present in this impressively dramatized mystery.
Not knowing what to expect, as I hadn't seen or read any reviews that accompanied its short run at Dixon Place, I can urge even to those who avoid one-person shows not to miss this heart-breaking story about the need for acceptance, the presence of intolerance, and the challenge to be all you can be. It is an absorbing, poignant and cleverly conceived one-man/multi-character play written and performed by James Lecesne. The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey should be on your short list of Off-Broadway plays to be seen this summer.
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