Moon Over Buffalo

Ken Ludwig’s backstage farce doesn’t really emulate the success of his “Lend Me a Tenor,” but it is, nevertheless, a fun and frenetic piece which still gives the actors a pretty big challenge.

The basis of the story is: A theatrical group led by a couple of over-the-hill stage performers who are trying to keep their touring company afloat at the dawn of the television age are performing Private Lives and  Cyrano de Bergerac in repertory at a Buffalo theatre, and learn that the great film director, Frank Capra, is coming to see them perform to cast them in a movie he is making. George and Charlotte Hay, the aged ingénues and stars of the company, cannot believe their luck that finally they are going to achieve the “stardom” they so crave, and feel they deserve.

Now we know nothing is going to be straightforward and neither is it.  George has had an affair with the company ingenue Eileen who is now pregnant; Charlotte finds out and leaves George for the company’s lawyer Richard who is in love with her; daughter Rosalind has brought her fiancé weatherman Howard to meet her parents for the first time; her ex-boyfriend Paul, the theatre manager, is still in love with her then topping all this off is Ethel, Charlotte’s mother who is deaf as a post, thereby setting up many of the play’s awkward situations.  Are you still with me?  

Farce demands impeccable timing of both the comedic and physical variety. Any flaws can quickly cause major continuity problems. Fortunately,  directors Kevin La Porte and John Mitchell had assembled a sterling cast who were all more than up to the challenge. There is much physical comedy in this play and it all came together well.

Tim McCormick and Vicky McCormick were perfectly cast as George and Charlotte Hay.   As George, Tim gets most of the play’s meat, including a second-act drunk scene in which he spouts Shakespeare.  He gave an excellent performance from start to finish.  As Charlotte, Vicky complemented and mirrored Tim’s level of performance perfectly. They were (naturally) well-matched to play this kooky couple.

Rosalind the couple’s daughter, fed up with life in the theatre is now in marketing and brings her new fiancé Howard a TV weatherman to meet her parents.  This was a well-structured performance by Cat Blacker who had to depict two sides to her character.  That of the not so dutiful daughter and then, when press-ganged into stepping in for an absent actress, a twenties ingenue in Private Lives.

There was nice chemistry between David Philpott as Paul, the company’s manager and would-be juvenile lead and Rosalind. There was also some well devised and choreographed moments of physical farce with boss George which went down a storm with the audience.

Andy Cosnor bought a sort of geeky goofiness to the long-suffering Howard, the TV weatherman.  This was an excellent performance in this sort of shoot-the-messenger part.  He was shoved out of the door on virtually every entrance, mistaken for Frank Capra, tied up and dressed up as a gun-wielding General Patton, all the while managing to maintain his savoir faire.

Teresa Baron was great as Ethel who always says what’s on her mind, caustic or kind, and though sometimes Ethel’s responses when she can’t hear well provide some of the best laughs, it’s the times she does hear well and the others assume she cannot which are the funniest. 

Kerrie Paskell was pretty and fitting as the (allegedly) innocent ingénue, Eileen, and Kris Camden did a fine job as the besotted lawyer, Richard.

All the technical aspects were up to NOMADS high standards, including some nice nostalgic costumes of the era. The set design was appropriately functional and unglamorous for a backstage green room. More importantly, the doors are well hinged, considering the amount of abuse they got throughout the evening.

 Great job from all involved with Moon Over Buffalo which kept an appreciative audience thoroughly entertained.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.