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 “in
gredients” 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.) See guide for listing.