Tim Moyer, Kristin Wiegand, Lauren Rooney, Ellen Ratner, Paul Dake, Joel Malazita |
Playwright-director Tom Dudzick uses this situation to gently satirize theatre, New York, actors, and, well, humans. His delightful characters, his ability to write both jokes and character humor, and his clean, smooth, well-paced direction add up to an uproarious evening in the theater. One moment in particular stopped the show for, I would think, a full minute, as the theater shook with the audience's laughter.
The excellent cast includes Paul Dake, providing the perfect charm-smarm ratio as Curt; Kristin Wiegand, wonderfully intense as "the most sought-after stage manager on Broadway"; Ellen Ratner, an hysterical force of nature as Beatrice; Lauren Rooney, who gives full dimension to a character who is a bit too naive as written; Joel Malazita as Jerry, who takes a while to hit his stride but unravels beautifully; and Tim Moyer, the calm center amid the insanity.
The show takes a little too long to really get started, and the ending relies too much on what takes place off-stage, but in between is about two hours of solid laughter. What more could you want from a comedy?
(Fourth row center; free tickets. Disclosure: Tom Dudzick is my brother-in-law, but you don't need to take this review with a grain of salt. All those other people in the audience laughing their heads off were not Tom's relatives.)
3 comments:
Terrific! Thanks Wendy! - Paul
My pleasure. Literally.
There's going to be a production of Don't Talk to the Actors in Stony Point, NY, at the Penguin with Beth Fowler and Richard Kline. http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/04-2012/beth-fowler-richard-kline-to-star-in-penguin-reps-_54299.html
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