The great management theorist, Karl Weick, once studied a jazz orchestra to learn how the process of organizing works. The orchestra, he found, had a basic structure, the "chart" for each individual piece it performed, but included in that structure was a demand for continuous improvisation. Improvisations built on other improvisations, and the group had to anticipate not only who would improvise next but how to connect those improvisations together to provide a shape to the music that went well beyond what was in the chart.

Gene, the title character in Warren Leight's 1999 Tony-winning play, is a great improviser. Give him a turn, and he'll give you one helluva solo. Trouble is, he's all improviser.

Likewise, Bang! Productions presentation of "Side Man" shines when Gene is improvising and dims when the spotlight shifts to other characters.

The cast of "Side Man"

Gene (Eddie Yaroch) is a "side man," a jazz trumpeter who can step into a situation, read the chart through, and be ready to perform. When jazz was the predominant form of popular music, there was plenty of work for good side men, in clubs backing a singer or an instrumental soloist, on tours with well-known band leaders, and in studio sessions doing recordings. Side men often hung out with each other, and Gene's crew includes Jonesy (Tom Hall), Al (Don Pugh), and Ziggy (Scott Striegel, who also directed) and occasionally enjoyed having some hangers-on, such as Patsy (Jacque Wilke), the waitress in the café where they meet. Their lives move from one "gig" to the next, and they proudly collect unemployment between gigs. They live to play, and not much else matters. They are content to improvise their lives, and their laid-back patterns of conversation with each other reflect the ease with which they improvise with each other. The fast-rising popularity of rock-and-roll does not particularly bother this bunch, as they have confidence that work will always be there for them.

But, Gene also has a wife, Terry (Amanda Cooley Davis), and a son, Clifford (Brian Mackey), and it is not so easy to improvise with them. Both Terry and Clifford have aspirations, and both are disappointed in the lives that they turned out to lead. Gene has made promises to each that he probably meant at the time (Terry wouldn't have to work, Clifford could go away to college, the family would take a vacation). But Gene's improvised life never left any room for them. Terry drank, and maybe she suffered from mental illness. Clifford protected both of his parents and sacrificed his own ambitions to keep things from falling apart completely. When things finally do fall apart, Gene is surprised. It wasn't in the chart, and he never saw it coming.

Mr. Striegel's production is at its best in the scenes where Gene and his buddies are bantering with each other. We are used to seeing "guy" banter, which is full of braggadocio and put-downs, but Mr. Leight's script gives us something else here--a group of men who truly love and respect each other. It is unusual to see this type of male interaction on stage, and under Mr. Striegel's direction the cast performs it perfectly. Ms. Wilke joins in the fun and has her own history with each of these men that helps to keep things interesting. I'm guessing that it helps that Mr. Striegel is playing Ziggy, because ultimately that character is the one who holds the group together.

The scenes at home do not fare as well. Mr. Mackey, whose character is the playwright's surrogate, mostly adopts an attitude of bemused detachment as he narrates the play's shifts in time and locale. That attitude, and his attractiveness as a performer, nearly gets him through. But, he is also called on to play a boy who must stay cool in the face of his mother's drunken and suicidal behavior and the grown man who must confront his father over all that has transpired, and Mr. Mackey's performance has trouble shifting gears. Ms. Cooley Davis has the least rewarding role to play. She alternates between being a shrewish wife and mother and a depressive and suicidal drunk, and neither persona is particularly attractive. Unfortunately, Ms. Cooley Davis doesn't find much for the audience to connect with in her character, and so things tends to fall apart when she's on stage.

As Gene, Mr. Yaroch gives a terrific performance, finding both his character's love for and skill at improvisation as well as his bewilderment with his home life. Gene may not have the vices of his cohorts, but he is far from perfect. Mr. Yaroch's performance not only holds the story together but makes it possible to see both Gene's strengths and his flaws.

The wide Diversionary Theatre stage provides plenty of room for multiple sets (by co-producer Michael McKeon) that can be shifted easily, and Matt Lescault-Wood's sound design artfully serves as the vehicle for making jazz more than something that the characters talk about. Christopher Renda's mostly effective lighting design could have used one more follow-spot. Jemima Dutra's costumes, Peter Herman's hair and wigs, David J. Medina II's properties, and Miriam Cuperman's choreography all contribute positively to the production's effectiveness.

"Side Man" is partly a memory play, partly a domestic drama, and partly a melancholy look back at an era in jazz history that is now long gone. It is at its best as a piece of theater when jazz is in the forefront, and Bang!'s production shares this strength.

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