Written by Neil Simon

Directed by Michael Leeds

Comedy about Hot Lover Hasn’t Cooled

Overweight owner of a fish restaurant, 47-year-old Barney Cashman (Ken Clement) has been married to the same women — his high school sweetheart — for 23 years. He has been faithful throughout the marriage and, in fact, has had only one other sexual experience, a rather dismal 15 minutes with a dingy prostitute in his brief single days. Now — he hopes — things will be different. Barney is ready for an affair.

The stage for the seduction is set — his mother’s apartment in an afternoon when she will not be home. He is prepared — carrying drinks in his small suitcase, and making sure his hands do not smell of fish.  The Last of the Red Hot Lovers is ready and more than willing as playwright Neil Simon sets him up for three attempts at “getting laid.” No — Barney want more than this. He wants the affair to be romantic — a meeting a soul mates–an unforgettable experience.

And so, the audience is privy to Barney entering his mom’s apartment, lowering the shades so no one can see in, pushing aside the bowl of artificial fruit on the table so he can open his suitcase and take out a bottle of booze. The fun is in the gradual progressions as the scene is repeated with significant variations. The booze moves from scotch to champagne. The glasses evolve from tumblers to flutes. And Barney changes, growing every more involved and more competent. It is all hilarious — filled with snappy repartee and shenanigans.

Kudos to Clement for really nailing the role of an awkward, shy, inept, eager, highly vulnerable man who is more than a mere lothario.

And then there are the women – all portrayed with great skill and aplomb! This comedy is a showcase for actors. While each woman is onstage for only one scene, each gets the opportunity to flesh out her idiosyncratic role when facing off against Barney.

Elissa D. Solomon plays blond, brash, brittle Elaine Navazio, who is eager for the liaison (and a cigarette) but ultimately turned off by Cashman’s sheer verbiage — including his recital of alliterative menu items from his restaurant.  He want to explain his creativity, to talk, to get to know each other (in the available hour and a half) and she wants more — far more. For the second encounter, Shira Abergel takes the role of wild, crazy Bobbi Michelle, the hippy that Cashman picked up in a local park. Now he must become the listener as she pours out fantastic and chaotic tales of her disjointed life. Sex takes second fiddle when Cashman — against his will and better judgment turns on to pot. And the third in this ever downwardly spiraling trio is played by Carol Sussman as Jeanette Fisher, in direct contrast to those who have preceded her. Age-appropriate and melancholy, Fisher, a friend of Cashman’s wife, appears clinically depressed over her own husband’s peccadilloes. Her sighs and sufferings are palpable.

Over this all hovers the unseen presence of Cashman’s fastidious mother who would surely notice if even a couch cushion became out of place in her apartment.

 The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, written in 1969, was a long running Broadway hit with 706 performances and a less successful 1972 film (with Alan Arkin, Sally Kellerman and Paula Prentiss). Now, in the intimate surroundings of the Stage Door Theater, it is in a perfect venue.

Highly Recommended

Beverly Friend

friend@oakton.edu

Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs, 8036 W. Sample Rd, 954-344-7765, www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38- $42.  Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 7 pm through March 4. Running time 2 hours and 15 minutes (including a 15-minute intermission).

Written by Kristoffer Diaz

Directed by Clive Cholerton

What a knockout play!

Reviewers have opportunity to see so much theater that seldom do they feel a pang at missing one particular opening. Now, I regret  not having seen Victory Garden’s 2009 world premiere of The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, and have rectified the omission. What a terrific play! You certainly needn’t be a wrestling fan to enjoy it; you only need be a fan of innovative approach, solid plotting and fine acting.

The play was actually only my second experience of wrestling. At age 26 and in the 8^th month of pregnancy, I scoffed at my over-protective mother-in-law’s warning:  “Don’t sit in the first row. The wrestlers often get tossed out and one may land in your lap.”

“Sure,” I thought. “This woman frets about everything.”

She was right; one combatant came flying over the ropes and barely missed me. We moved several rows back.  While there was no physical danger in the ringside set of Kristoffer Diaz’s brilliant and highly comic drama, plenty of provocative ideas were hurled at us over the ropes:

• The villain controls the winner.
• Wrestling is “the communion of two individuals doing all they can to insure neither gets hurt.”
• Wrestling is essentially a ceremonial ritual of protection.
• The artifice of the ring provides a vivid metaphor
• The reality of the ring is based on the illusions of life.
• The business of managers is to milk and reinforce society’s prejudices.
• The rebellion of stereotypes is short lived
• A loaf of raisin bread can become a symbol of what is important in sport as well as in life (the raisins, of course).

This unorthodox, vibrant satire on sports, business, race, politics and power in the U.S.  is narrated by Puerto Rican wrestler Mace, aka Macedonio  Guerra (Brandon Morris), who has loved wrestling, and played with his brothers and toy action figures since childhood. Video projections continually enhance his narrative. Now, in his adult connection with wrestling, his job is to make himself into a human punching bag so that the other guys look good. As he notes, “In wrestling, you can’t kick a guy’s ass without the help of he guy whose ass you are kicking.” The main person he facilitates is the less skilled but far more charismatic, flamboyant African American Chad Deity (Donte Bonner).

Mace then discovers another charismatic talent in Vigneshwar Paduar (Adam Bashian), an Indian-American rock star who can speak in English, Spanish, Hindi and Urdu, and brings him to the attention of his manager, Everett Olson (Gregg Weiner).  Olson then takes over to create a new wrestling persona garbing him in Muslim robe for his role as an “Islamic terrorist,” with a lethal “Kabbalah-kick.” Ultimately, he will be slated to appear against Chad in a “Pay for View” extravaganza.

Throughout each match – and the wrestlers are amazingly skillful in execution — the audience is involved – encouraged to chant for the winners, and groan at key moments. When Mace says, “The crowd gasps” – the audience is happy to oblige.

The excellent cast is rounded out by Matthew Shaller, a professional wrestler as well as an actor, who played wrestling partners Billy Heartland and Old Glory. Kudos to the fight choreographers (who have also been wrestlers) Pablo Marquez and Dan Ackerman and to the versatile and athletic actors who were able to perform all the necessary gymnastics.

While I might not seek out future wrestling matches, I certainly plan to look for new plays by Diaz. The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was deservedly on the short list of nominees for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize.

Highly Recommended

Beverly Friend

friend@oakton.edu

Caldwell Theater Company at the Count de Hoernle Theatre, 7901 Federal Hwy. Boca Raton, Fl., 33487, www.caldwelltheatre.com,  561-241-7432, tickets, $27-50 (Students $10),  runs Wednesdays through Saturday at 8  pm, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 m, through Feb 12. Running time is one hour 45 minutes including a 12-minute intermission.

Written by Neil Simon

Directed by W. F.Wilson

Prisoner captures audience

There is nothing like a Neil Simon play for rounding out the old year and ringing in the new.

This is dark comedy rendered with a light hand.  Clever banter undercuts family angst as fast-paced repartee unfolds the story of a married couple struggling with economic and social problems as vivid and timely today as when the play was written.  When The Prisoner of Second Avenue opened in 1971, the term “downsizing,” was not in anyone’s vocabulary, but Mel Edison (Dan Kelley) and his wife Edna (Derelle Bunn) certainly become its victims and suffer all the resulting pain.

After 22 years on the job, 47-year old Mel has been laid off. To add to the distress, Manhattan is in the grips of a heat wave, and a faulty air conditioner makes the house freezing (like living in 12 degrees).  A prolonged garbage strike results on nasty odors emanating from the street. Neighbors are noisy and inconsiderate. And then to cap it all, burglars ransack their apartment making off with Mel’s seven suits, three sports coats, jackets, trousers, the TV, all the booze (including the

Chivas Regal), and even the Valium!

How can anyone stand all this? Mel can’t, and the result is a nervous breakdown. Kudos to Kelley who covers a gamut of emotions – not missing a nuance in a range from normalcy to paranoia – with great insight and manic humor. Edna as his ever patient, understanding, wife seeks to alleviate the situation by soothing words and actions. She takes hold, returns to work, and encourages him to get psychiatric care. No wife could do more as she schleps home daily to make lunch for him before returning to work.

Enter additional support – a hilarious quartet of Mel’s siblings: successful businessman Harry (Bob Levitt), who is still tormented by the fact that Mel (the baby of the family) was their parents’ favorite, and a trio of rather brittle elderly sisters: Pearl (Phyllis Spear), Jessie (Gail Byer), and Pauline (Margie Elias Eisenberg). This is the first time they have been in Mel’s apartment in nine years, and their desire to help is muted both by various ill feelings and fear of getting too financially involved. The siblings are delightful, and the sisters maintain clear individuality while striking similar ambivalence towards the Mel’s plight.

The acting is terrific throughout, and the lead couple — Kelly and Dunn — compare quite favorably to the original 1971 Broadway cast of Peter Falk and Lee Grant and to the 1975 film stars Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft.

Highly Recommended

Beverly Friend

Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs, 8036 W. Sample Rd, 954-344-7765, www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38- $42.  Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 7 pm through Jan 29. Running time two hours including a 15-minute intermission.

Words and music by Irving Berlin

Conceived by Ray Roderick and Michael Berkeley

Directed and Choreographed by Jonathan Van Dyke

To Love the Piano is to Love the Pianist (and the Whole Show)

What prolific composer lived for over 100 years and wrote songs spanning seven decades of US history? The answer is, of course, Irving Berlin (1888-1989), whose music plays on long beyond his lifetime, and is especially remembered at this time of year — whenever we hear “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas.”

And what about “God Bless America?” “Blue Skies?” ” A Pretty Girl is like a Melody?” “Puttin’ on the Ritz?” “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning?” “Easter Parade?” and the scores of his Broadway and Hollywood hits? If this list continued to include all his songs, it would be over 900 titles long – and include 19 musicals and 18 movies!

Innovative Ray Roderick and Michel Berkeley had a great idea when they assembled 64 of the best and brightest songs to be sung by six engaging performers, and created a delightful frame to house it all. This is more than a recital or a review; it is a trip through time. The first act incorporates eight scenes, moving effortlessly from a 1910 setting in Alexander’s Music Shop, where young girls sing to promote the sale of sheet music, to 1918′s Tin Pan Alley, a speakeasy, the Lower East Side in the 1930′s during the depression, a glamorous 1940′s ballroom, and the famous Stage Door Canteen. In the second act, the Canteen continues post World War II before moving to on a 1950′s junkyard (to highlight the song “We’re a Couple of Swells”), before entering the world of summer stock (centered around highly amusing auditions for “Annie Get Your Gun”).

The talented cast of six – Robert Arthur, Samantha Bryce, Erin Edelle, Michael Karraker, Will Hutchenson, and Bethany Wagner sing and dance with aplomb, weaving into various combinations to enhance mood and situation, costumed beautifully and presenting  their different roles via song, not dialogue. And there is one more character – the piano itself. While it is sometimes moved, often it remains center stage so that the characters (back to audience) seem to be playing while the real pianist (David Nagy) and his orchestra (Julie Jacobs on Percussion and Rupert Ziawinski on Bass) are lodged behind in the shadows.

 The songs are timeless – as is evident in the lyrics that Bryce sings
hauntingly:

What’ll I do?
When you are far away
And I am blue
What’ll I do?

What’ll I do?
When I am wond’ring who
Is kissing you
What’ll I do?

What’ll I do with just a photograph
To tell my troubles to?

When I’m alone
With only dreams of you
That won’t come true
What’ll I do?

Director Van Dyke wrote, “This tribute to Berlin’s music will make you
want to dance, laugh, go on a first date, shed a tear, hug your partner,
stand in reverence and sing at the top of your lungs.”

That says it all.

Highly recommended.
Beverly Friend

Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs, 8036 W. Sample Rd, 954-344-7765,
www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38- $42.  Wednesdays, Thursdays,
Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm,
Sundays at 7 pm through Jan 8.

]]> http://chicagocritic.com/i-love-a-piano/feed/ 0 http://chicagocritic.com/guys-dolls-florida/ http://chicagocritic.com/guys-dolls-florida/#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:43:59 +0000 admin http://chicagocritic.com/?p=18421 Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Based on characters by Damon Runyon

Directed by Dan Kelley

Take odds on missionaries vs. gamblers

The worst that can be said about this Florida production of GUYS and DOLLS is that it is uneven. The best that can be said is that when it runs true, it provides some terrific moments.

Jill Taylor Anthony provides the very best moments in the role of Miss Adelaide, the doll who has been waiting 14 years for her guy, Nathan Detroit (Justin Lore), to finally tie the knot.  Her timing is terrific; her voice just right for the songs; her demeanor winsome – altogether a winning combination.

This musical is a classic  – considered one of the best ever because of the talents of Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows and based on two charming Damon Runyon stories. It is filled with 20 catchy song-and-dance numbers including these all-time favorites:

A Bushel and a Peck

If I Were a Bell

I’ve Never Been in Love Before

Luck be a Lady Tonight

Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat

Old-timers may well remember the story, but for the youngsters, the plot line consist of two intertwined love stories where the dolls ultimately seek to change their guys and woo them from their gambling ways.

Adelaide wants Detroit to forgo running a floating crap game; Salvation Army Officer Sarah Brown  (Colleen Amaya) seeks to “save” Sky Masterson (Adam Bashian).  It’s missionaries vs. gamblers with love as the ultimate winner.

Memorable scenes include the crap game itself, featuring disgruntled, gun-toting thug Big Jule from Chicago (Jack Livesey), who has come to “shoot craps” no matter what, and a delicious moment in the Mission where Masterson fulfils his promise to deliver a  dozen highly reluctant sinners to be saved.

The names of the characters are as colorful as their garish, pinstriped suits and lively roles; Nicely-Nicely Johnson (Phil Gosselin), Benny Southstreet (John Warren),  Angie the Ox (Leonardo Altafini) and Harry the Horse (Geoffrey Mergele).

Is this a great musical? Yes, without a doubt. Is this a great production? No, it is a competent one with some delightful moments that make it worth seeing.

Recommended.

Beverly Friend

friend@oakton.edu

Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs, 8036 W. Sample Rd, 954-344-7765, www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38- $42.  Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 pm, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 7 pm through Dec. 4.

Book by Craig Lucas
Music and lyrics by Adam Guettel
Based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer
Directed by Michael Leeds

Light in the Piazza Shines on Romance

Music transcends language, and nowhere is this more apparent than in Act II of Light in the Piazza when Fabrizio Naccarelli agonizes in Italian over the loss of his loved one, American tourist Clara Johnson. No one can doubt his angst, reinforced by his whole family as they join in empathetic chorus. In fact, one of the most creative and delightful aspects of this romance is the intermingling of English and Italian in dialogue as well as song. The potential for understanding – and misunderstanding – echoes the potential misalliance between handsome Florentine Fabrizio and winsome, lovely Clara, a “special child,” injured by an accident at age 12 and left with immature emotions and intellect.

Can a romance between these two bloom?  Is it ethical not to forewarn the potential groom and his family? What appears to be a questionable plot line is transcended by the role of Clara’s mother, Margaret, played with great verve and sympathy by Gabrielle Visser. It is really her story as – learning from her own romantic experience – she moves from brittle guardian to compassionate supporter of her daughter’s opportunity for happiness. Margaret sustains the play, and her insights and new personal maturity spark her change of heart and direction. Can she let go of her child? And even if she can, should she?

The Stage Door ensemble is excellent: Lara Hayhurst is appealing as the mercurial, vulnerable, naive and unaware Clara. Dylan Thompson plays a charming and charmed,  ardent Fabrizio, surrounded by a charismatic family: Bruce Rebold as his bombastic yet loving father; Jennifer Bennett as his understanding, supportive mother; Tony Ramos as the philandering brother, Giuseppe;  and  Natalie Ramirez as Giuseppe’s  nervous, jealous wife Franca. The chemistry between the Fabrizio and Clara is so palpable and their relationship is so filled with joy that the audience cannot help but emotionally root for their happiness – no matter how, intellectually, they might question the premise.

The score is unique – combining opera and classical music – often sustained by pure notes rather than lyrics. While there are no memorable tunes, the whole effect enriches the play. The inventive score defies categorization and has been called Sondheimesque and compared with the styles of Brahms, Schoenberg, and Broadway musical director, and orchestrator Ted Sperling.

Based on the 1960 novel by Elizabeth Spencer, Light in the Piazza was made into a movie in 1963 starring Olivia de Havilland, Yvette Mimieux, and George Hamilton. Over 40 years passed before Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel transformed the work into a musical. This incarnation opened on Broadway in 2003 (continued at the Goodman Theater in Chicago in 2004) and  won six Tony awards:  for Original Score, Leading Actress in a Musical,  Scenic Design, Costume Design, Lighting Design and Orchestrations, as well as Drama Desk Awards and Awards from the Outer Critics Circle.

Recommended
Beverly Friend
friend@oakton.edu

At the Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W Sample Rd, Coral Springs, Florida. Call 954-344-7765, www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38-42 Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturday and Sundays 2 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 7 p.m. through April 10.

Written by Neil Simon 

Directed by Michael Leeds

At Stage door Theatre, Coral Springs, FL

Book into the right hotel and the right play

There are few playwrights more enjoyable than Neil Simon, and few comedies as delicious as Plaza Suite. Time has not dulled the biting wit of the dialogue, the humor of the situation, and the perceptive peek into the foibles of romance, love, and marriage. Here in room 719 of the Plaza Hotel in New York, we watch the tale of three couples as a marriage dissolves, a seduction occurs, and a bride is persuaded to begin wedded bliss.

While often performed in three acts, Stage Door Theatre devoted the first act to the 24^th wedding anniversary of Sam and Karen Nash (Kevin Reilly and Dee Bunn) while consolidating the next two tales in a swiftly moving second act.

We open with a bubbly Karen setting the scene for this anniversary by a return to the site of their honeymoon – and then watch her bubbles burst with the entry of a tired, disinterested Sam. He not only denies that this is the right date or even the right suite, but continues his negativity until the two of them begin to examine their rightness of their lives together. The unfolding – and deterioration – of the relationship is so skillfully done that it is possible to sympathize with both characters. The laughs are tempered with empathetic understanding.

Act II opens with movie producer Jesse Kiplinger (Bill Dobbins) in town for a few days, waiting the arrival of his old flame, suburban housewife Muriel Tate (Courtney Cameron Reed). What Kiplinger lacks in height, he makes up for in swagger and attitude and Dobbins captures the character perfectly.   Muriel’s nervousness is palpable as she struggles to avoid becoming ensnared in his seductive behavior – jumping up, ready to leave, then changing her mind as rapidly as she changes the facts about when she is expected home, and the state of her own marriage.  What ultimately captures this chattering butterfly is as hilarious as the interplay between the two characters.

The final vignette is the funniest as long-married Roy and Norma Hubley (Michael Douglass and Margie Elias Eisenberg) attempt to persuade daughter Mimsey (Danielle Tabino) to come out of her locked bedroom to attend her own wedding. The machinations of the couple move from reasonable – they cajole, they demand, they plead — to outrageous (even slapstick) so skillfully that the audience is left holding its breath between laughs. If Douglas and Eisenberg ever considered starring in their own sit-com, they would be a sure-fire success.

Plaza Suite has had a long and successful career on stage and in film. Opening in 1968 in New York for 1,097 performances, the comedy starred George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton in all three tales. In 1971, it became a film with Walter Matthau, Stapleton, Barbara Harris and Lee Grant, and in 1987, Carol Burnett produced a TV movie in which she played all three of the female roles.

The Stage Door cast is equal to any comparison with their more famous counterparts – handling their roles with skill and aplomb under the fine direction of Michael Leeds.  This excellent ensemble is rounded out by Sam Sherburne who appears in a supporting role in all three stories as bellhop, waiter, and groom.

Worth seeing more than once!

Highly Recommended

Beverly Friend

friend@oakton.edu

Date Reviewed: February 17, 2011

At the Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W Sample Rd, Coral Springs, Florida. Call 954-344-7765, www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38-42 Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturday and Sundays 2 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 7 p.m. through March 20

By Bruce Norris

Directed by Clive Cholerton

Caldwell Theatre Company

At the Count de Hoernle Theatre

Potentially brilliant work falls short

Bruce Norris is an extraordinarily innovative playwright, and Chicagoans enjoyed his skill when Steppenwolf mounted Parallelogram last summer. Now, South Floridians are getting their turn. But if it is possible to stretch and force innovation too far, that is what happens in the Southeast premiere of Clybourne Park.

The idea is terrific – a wonderful extrapolation. The literature of “what if” is always stimulating. What if the South had won the Civil War? What if Napoleon had never been born? Leaving history for fiction, a prime example of “what if” is the story of Hamlet as told from the point of view of minor characters. Now, Norris takes us to 1959 and the world of Lorraine Hansberry’s Raisin in the Sun. He extrapolates on the white family who became first in their neighborhood to sell to the African Americans of Hansberry’s drama.

Reminiscent of Stoppard’s coin toss opening in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Norris opens his play by tossing words. A husband and wife speculate about what residents of major cities call themselves A discussion of whether or not Neapolitan ice cream is named for Naples leads to discussion of the rules for creating citizenship names – especially for cities than end in the letter “s.” What would one call people who live in Brussels?

While Norris may intend the exchange to provide a provocative foreshadowing — starting with national before moving on to racial identity –, it goes on far too long, numbing rather than stimulating the audience. Less would really be more here.

Pacing and timing are also discordant. At times, characters seem stranded, standing, listening, but not participating in the action. Often, just too many are on stage: a husband suffering from depression, his high-strung wife, an inept but well-meaning minister, a put-upon maid and her husband, a bigoted family friend and his deaf wife.

All of the actors – Kenneth Kay, Patti Gardner, Karen Stephens, Cliff Burgess, Brian D. Coats, Gregg Weiner, Margery Lowe and Andrew Wind — play dual roles, reappearing in Act II in the same house, circa 2009. Now, economics, politics, and social situations have changed and in this reversal, the white couple who want to buy and renovate the house must pass muster with the neighborhood-preservation committee.

Everyone sits around, reading aloud and commenting on zoning laws, once again making some asides about the names of national capitals. Too much time is wasted until the plot threads begin to be rewoven. Too much is said about too little. The plot resumes, laced with tasteless racial jokes as the individuals antagonize each other.

The strongest moment comes at the end when something significant buried in Act I is dug up from the back yard – tying both stories together with an originality and strength that was lacking until this moment. The play ends brilliantly. Unfortunately, this it is just not enough to compensate for earlier weaknesses.

This moderately good play needing more work and tightening could be a great one. Norris certainly has the talent.

Not Recommended

Beverly Friend

friend@oakton.edu

At the Count de Hoernle Theatre, 7901 Federal Hwy. Boca Raton, Fl., 33487, www.caldwelltheatre.com, 561-241-7432, tickets, $38-50 (Students $10), runs Wednesdays through Saturdasy at 8 pm, Wednesdasy, Saturdasy and Sundays at 2 m, running time is 86 minutes without intermission, through Feb 6.caldwelltheatre.lcom

Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman

Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee

Based on the novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis

Directed y Dan Kelley

Flamboyant relative alive and kicking after 50 years

Rosalind Russell in 1957, Angela Lansbury in 1966, Lucille Ball in 1974 — these three are the most famous actors to depict one of drama’s most vivid and endearing characters on stage and screen – Mame!

Russell, Lansbury, and Ball, and — now in an intimate Florida theater –Tara Michelle Newinsky takes her turn as this eccentric, larger than life, freewheeling bohemian suddenly saddled with her dead brother’s young son.  But no, she is not saddled – Auntie Mame rises to the occasion – meeting and overcoming every obstacle, from the stuffy executor, Dwight Babcock (Jeffrey Bruce), who wants to control Dennis as a child (Brian Inerfeld)  to the air-headed debutant, Gloria Upson (Nikki Allred),  who sets her cap at Dennis as an adult (Joey Zangardi).

Along the way, she suffers financial losses, attempts and fails at a variety of jobs and ultimately rises above it all when she finds her own romance with a courtly southern plantation owner, Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside  (Danny Prather)

Newinsky may not be as vampy and glamorous as her predecessors, but she does a fine job of bringing warmth into what might so easily be a brittle presentation. She captures the nature of this rare soul who displays an unstinting love of her young nephew, “opening windows” of experience for him by defying convention. It is a very demanding role, as Mame is onstage in nearly every scene.

This vivid depiction of a flamboyant character is reinforced in all of Mame’s relationships, but nowhere more comically and effectively than in the scenes between Mame and arch rival/best friend Vera Charles (Loriann Freda). One of the best moments of the musical is when the two women – one clad in white, the other in slinky black, explain their love/hate relationship in the song “Bosom Buddies.” High praise to Marilyn Wick and Costume World Theatrical (www.costumeworld.com) for the all the glamorous outfits.

Jerry Herman’s songs and lyrics, memorable, just as pertinent and catchy today as when they were written, and presented by talented singers include “It’s today,” “We Need a little Christmas,” and “If He Walked into my Life.” Kudos to Chrissi Ardito for excellent choreography. The whole cast is engaging, and especially with the “Fox Hunt Song,” where shocked onlookers watch Mame on a run-a-away horse dash past them so quickly that she out distances not only the hunt master but the fox itself.

Brian Inerfeld nearly steals the show as the young Patrick Dennis, arriving with his solid, stolid nanny Agnes Gooch (Jill Taylor Anthony).   With a great voice and poise beyond his years, he nails the role. Frumpy Gooch, moving from naivety through experience, via Mame’s encouragement and makeover, is hilarious. The whole cast is excellent and they deserve special praise for their aplomb during the opening matinee for carrying on seamlessly when the stage turntable hit a snag, freezing the set.
To sum up this entertaining evening – if, as Mame asserts, “Life is a banquet, and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death,” then this evening of theater is certainly part of the feast.

Recommended

Beverly Friend

friend@oakton.edu

At the Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W Sample Rd, Coral Springs, Florida. Call 954-344-7765, www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38-42 Wednesdays, Thursdays and  Sundays 2 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 7 p.m. through Feb. 6

For anyone planning a Florida trip, here’s what’s coming up:

Theatre #1

Feb 25-April 10 – Light in the Piazza

April 29-June 19 – Music Man

Theatre #2

Feb 4- March 20 – Plaza Suite

Written and musically

arranged by Rick Lewis

Directed by Arthur Whitelaw

A Matchmaker’s Dream!

If one wedding is good, wouldn’t four be fantastic?

That’s the premise of the fictional TV show, “Happily Ever After” which provides the framework for A Taffeta Wedding. The time is 1964. The scene is a TV studio (complete with a flashing light demanding “applause”) and interlaced commercials. The lucky, appealing brides are the Taffetas – a sister quartet from Muncie, Indiana – who will wed their beaus, the Cardigans – a tuneful fraternity-brother foursome — before a national audience (shades of Tiny Tim and Miss Vicki). The lovely girls – with the stiff hairdos of the day (two brunettes, a redhead and a blonde) — are clad in pastel taffeta and chiffon outfits: yellow, pink, aqua and purple. The handsome fellows are color coordinated with the girls, sporting trimmed sweaters and matching shoes.

With 11 songs in the first act and 13 in the second, there is ample time to explore the relationships, which can be divided into three distinct parts: hope, despair, and resolution.

Kaye (Meredith Bartmon), Peggy (Rebecca Cesario), Cheryl (Emily Senn) and Donna (Chloe Golden) are filled with expectation and excitement over their upcoming nuptials and open with such songs as  “Mr. Sandman, Bring me a Dream,” “Everybody Loves a Lover,” and “Goin’ to the Chapel.”  Their male counterparts — Chuck (John Debrowski), Frankie (Matt Falber), Johnny (Garrett Bruce) and Buddy (Andrew Oberstein), join them.  The eight fine voices blend into strong harmonies. Each singer is also able take the lead in any particular song and can shift as smoothly with the lyrics as with the choreography. The fellows join the ladies for such winsome songs as “Put your Head on my Shoulder.” Ah, so romantic.

However, all is not well in this fictional heaven. Dissension looms!

Will the wedding actually take place? It doesn’t look that way at the opening of Act II when the girls reappear garbed in black mourning outfits. Oh my. . . .

Not to worry. All will be well and will end with the eight warbling such tunes as “Love me Forever” and  “Hold me, Thrill me, Kiss me.”

The effect is upbeat and charming, the audience held not only by the skill of the singers, but by the way they take on the individual roles – silly, sexy, flirtatious, pouting – as they develop their characters with warmth and humor. As a plus, talented Cheyenne Lentz plays Barbara – but to tell her charming role would be a spoiler. Go see for yourself.

The performance provides a delightful return to the days of Lawrence Welk, and famous sister quartets like the McGuires, the Lennon Sisters and the Chordettes. And I would estimate that for the audience, at least  90 percent of the songs were recognizable. This is the third incarnation of this fictional quartet, written by playwright and musical arranger Rick Lewis. The Taffetas originated off Broadway in 1989 in a musical about the four aiming for a spot on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was directed by award-winning Arthur Whitelaw, director of tonight’s show (who was also the original producer), ran for 165 performances and was favorably compared with Forever Plaid.  A Taffeta Christmas then emerged as a successful sequel.

Now, with this quarto-nuptial of A Taffeta Wedding, the four have become eight, and may begin to rival the Osmond family. One can hardly wait to see what comes next!

Recommended

Beverly Friend

friend@oakton.edu

At the Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W Sample Rd, Coral Springs, Florida. Call 954-344-7765, www.stagedoortheatre.com Tickets $38-42 Wednesdays, Thursdays and  Sundays 2 p.m., Thursdays through Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 7 p.m. through Jan 16.