NoHo>LA    May 3, 2001    by Michelle E. Malik

    It's the great American theme.  Love and friendship.  You cannot have one without the other, but friendship is not necessarily a prelude to romantic love.  Dylan White's play, The Ultimate Milkshake, now running at the Secret Rose, unlike its comfy title, is everything but conventional, as it goes beneath the surface of a friendship between a guy and a girl in their late twenties, who have handled  everything together from family death and birth, to cancer and pregnancy scares, but cannot find the one dynamic that converts friendly love and concern to the "ultimate," a soul mate.  That's when all the "ingredients" so to speak are not in check and one has to make a decision or make a break.

    The UCLA alumni cast and crew made up of Dylan White as writer, producer, and lead actor, Karen Soltero, as the lead actress and co-producer, and Jake Gianassi as director, have a simpatico together that clearly stems from a love of storytelling and tangible themes,  Dylan injects a great sense of witty comedy into his work and delivers his lines against quick-tongued Karen Soltero, with a natural ease that makes you laugh in spite of yourself.  Karen is high energy, confident, and yet vulnerable when it counts, letting her guard down in a character that wants us to think that she has it together all the time.

    The music of the Jackson Five, Otis Redding, Elvis, and James Brown are just some of the great tunes played between scenes that tie in with a diner motif, hence the show's name, but more deeply, exemplify the theme of love and losing the girl.  All is not lost however, because the ingredient of friendship is ultimately maintained.  Look out for the genius of Dylan White, Karen Soltero, and Jake Gianassi, as they hope to make an appearance at the forthcoming NoHo Arts Festival.

    (This run of The Ultimate Milkshake is being dedicated to Wendy Soltero, Karen's younger sister, a very creative young woman who enjoyed many art forms, like sculpture and painting, theater, dance, and music, who was murdered in a random robbery shooting late last year.  The WendyArts Foundation, was established in her name to help 'other artists of all disciplines and ages' fulfill their passion.)

LA Weekly    April 20-26, 2001    by Diedre Johnson

Playwright-performer Dylan White's romantic comedy is a sitcom waiting to happen.  Nevertheless, White's comic timing and Jake Gianassi's swift direction give The Ultimate Milkshake some fresh moments.  Teacher John (White) and receptionist Anna (Karen Soltero) are best buddies until their romantic feelings for each other suddenly surface following a series of poignant events.  First, Anna's aunt dies, and then John's soon-to-be-divorced sister goes into labor alone.  Finally, Anna has a revelation, and, as a result, the two pals become boyfriend and girlfriend.  White's energetic delivery deftly offsets Soltero's neurotic goofiness, but much of the humor is hit or miss.  (A reference to Eminem elicits laughs but an allusion to Barbizon technical college does not.)  Repeated usage of silly names for sex organs and acts goes beyond the intentionally juvenile; the script flirts with bad taste.  Still, the actors' relaxed stage presence makes this modern-day romance appealing.  Samantha Brown's set design is flawless, and Sarah Jane Gardam's colorful costumes add to the hip, trendy texture.

Back Stage West    April 26, 2001    by Terri Roberts

    Sex with friends changes everything.  John (Dylan White) has been smitten with Anna (Karen Soltero) for nine years, but she's made it clear she wants to be friends only.  When her latest shallow boyfriend dumps her because she's found a lump in her breast and he can't deal with it, Anna turns to her best pal, John, for comfort.  To add to the emotional upheaval, Anna's aunt has just died and John's sister is about to give birth.  Before you can say "an episode of Friends," Anna has jumped from friendship to flirtation with John, and whammo, bammo, they're in bed together.  Where do two friends go from there?

    In The Ultimate Milkshake, written by White and directed by Jake Gianassi, they stumble through a sex-packed, short-lived romance that comes to a head when Anna thinks she is pregnant.  One pregnancy test later and the course of their relationship changes again.  Their bond, however, remains strong.

    White's entertaining sitcom-ish script is high on quick facile jokes, some fairly predictable situations, and lots of female squealing and male "Oh, my God"-ing (intoned exactly like Friends' Chandler Bing).  Where he gets in trouble is with an undistinguishable timeline and useless plot devices like the lump in Anna's breast, which is there only for the sympathy factor and is dealt with superficially and unrealistically (weeks of radiation treatment have left her with long, luxuriant, to-die-for hair, healthy glowing skin, and an enviable figure) before suddenly disappearing midway through the script with no resolution.  There's also a tendency in his writing to rush through scenes and moments without allowing much time for development.

    There is, however, some truly witty writing in White's script, and this along with Gianassi's fast-paced direction and a pair of appealing actors, keeps the show within the cute, lighthearted range without straying too close to irritating.  The Ultimate Milkshake refers to one of the things John really wants to experience before he dies.  It's all the good things, blended together, he explains to Anna.

News & Updates   Creative Endeavors    Karen the Actress    Karen the MBA    Friends & Family    The WendyArts Foundation    Email Me    Links