The cast of “Rich Girl” struggles to pull off an interesting production / Mark S. Howard
Given people’s fascination with the rich and famous, “Rich Girl” could be a delightful romp through the dysfunctional lives of a media megastar and her disappointingly ordinary daughter.
Unfortunately, playwright Victoria Stewart’s Suze Orman-inspired tale plays like a mediocre sitcom you watch when you can’t bother looking for the remote. It’s fine really, just sort of bland and forgettable.
If you’ve seen “The Heiress,” you might think this is a contemporary adaptation of that plot, which it is, but the characters in “Rich Girl” aren’t as interesting.
Amelia Broome stars as Eve, a TV financial advice guru whose favorite buzzword is prenup, but she lacks the charisma her character’s job requires. She’s also void of the requisite edge to have such a strained relationship with her daughter Claudine (Sasha Castroverde). It doesn’t help that the milquetoast media heavyweight is wearing cheap, ill-fitting clothes and an even cheaper wig. (Oprah and her ilk would never.)
Castroverde’s long purple wig offers hope that her character will be more interesting, but she’s just as dull as her mother, though she does, mercifully, teeter into bitchy and appealing in Act II.
Claudine’s love interest, Henry (Joe Short), makes you wonder what the fuss is about. In an era where media stars like the Kardashians, Taylor Swift and Rihanna can all find real bad boys, Stewart could’ve come up with a more menacing guy to threaten Eve’s financial empire. This guy is as pesky as a gnat at a picnic, and those can be taken care of pretty easily.
Eve’s long-faithful assistant Maggie (Celeste Oliva) has more energy than all the others. Oliva singlehandedly keeps the production moving, but like any bright spot of color on an otherwise beige wall, it’s hardly enough to sustain your interest.
