THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE, Theatre Review

THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE

The New Phoenix on The Park

Directed by Joeseph Natale

Cast: Betsy Bittar, Mary Loftus, John Kruezer, Eric Rawski

I saw this play a month ago and here's a short review.

Betsy Bittar commands the stage with her voluptuous and frightening presence, and Mary Loftus is perfectly pathetic as a victim of elder abuse in The New Phoenix Theatre On The Park's production of Martin McDonaugh's black comedy, "The Beauty Queen Of Leenane", a play where Tennessee Williams meets Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes.

Bittar plays Maureen Folan, a 40 year old Irishwoman whose last chance at romance may be spoiled by her scheming and senile mother, (Loftus); senile in that she pours pails of urine down the kitchen sink and serves tea immediately afterwards.

Nasty stuff, this, and if it weren't for the cast delivering performances that made this vile Irish corner of the world believable, a striking inanity would prevail. Spinster fears her mother will ruin her last chance at marriage, so spinster torments and physically abuses the old girl. Stop, stop, you're killing me.

Loftus is fascinating as a woman secure with manipulative control yet fearful of the genuinely threatening world around her. She's physically apt as well, taking a believable spill to the floor in one scene.

Theatre Review, THREE MURDERS AND IT'S ONLY MONDAY

Theatre Review

THREE MURDERS AND IT'S ONLY MONDAY

Springville Center for The Arts

February 1, 2009



* * * Three Stars



Here is a silly private eye romp of murders in a sanitarium. The jokes are often so bad they beg for mercy. The doctor of the sanitarium, for instance, answers an inquisition about the cleansliness of the hospital by proclaiming, "this is a sanitary sanitarium!", and then repeats the line as if pondering the playwright's lack of creativity. A hospital worker enters with a tray of breakfast cereal just as someone announces the murders may be serial murders. This two-act comedy prides itself on being bad, and comes close to collapsing under it's own sardonic weight.



Director Joanne May however, keeps the gumshoe comedy carefully tongue-in-cheek with exaggerated and amusing performances, and often, exceptional comedic timing from the cast of 12, (13 if you count the puppet Howdy Doody). Lead player, gumshoe Harry Monday, (Troy Lester), in a debut performance, carries off the private eye schtick with ease and a cool way of talking out of the side of his mouth, ("it's like this, you see"); Scott Hill, as Dr. Morrissey, is a fine comic player, never fearing to take his bit to outrageous heights while keeping his romp within the confines of the staged silliness; Mike Sharrar, as Larramore Mandrake sweeps the stage with his skilled delivery and timing, and possesses an outstanding singing voice; Pam Morley, as Tara Dallaise, does the sexy femme fatale bit with just enough voluptuous swash and sway. Howdy Doody doesn't move his mouth, while his ventriliquest does. It's a joke, son.

Often this trite takes itself too seriously as if the audience really cares 'who-did-it'. What is most appealing is the sound effect thunder and lightning, lights going off and on, candles being lit, farce-like entrances and exits, and the sheer fun that the cast is having infecting the audience with sometimes undeserved giggles. It all reaches a satisfying conclusion.

ROAD LESS TRAVELLED, Triangles

I did manage to see one more Buffalo play before the close of 2008, Road Less Travelled's production of "Triangles". Long-time friend, composer, musician, artist Alan Kryscak composed and performed the music for the production. The show consisted of three one-acts all somewhat revolving around the concept of romantic love triangles. Al stood on a platform over the stage behind a mesh screen playing surpringly aggressive and somber electric guitar including some entire lyrical songs at intervals and scene changes. No surprise that his playing was excellent, gently blending in to the moods of the production, but the original songs, which could easily stand alone as fine pieces of music, were strikingly in sync with the often light-hearted production, casting a dark and mysterious shadow over an impending expectation of romance. The first two one-acts were short forays into the concept of confronting a third party in a romantic triangle. August Strindberg's "The Stronger", consisted of a woman, dressed as if from the late 19th or early 20th Century, confronting another woman in what seemed an outdoor cafe, who is having an affair with her husband. Only the cheated upon woman speaks to the other in the scene. She rationalizes, compromises, and victors over the silent third party, causing one to consider that this isn't an actual confrontation at all, but an extension of an infuriated subconscience. Celebrated local playwright Manny Fried's "Triangle" follows, inspired by the one-act that preceded it. The same two actresses again play two woman, one who remains silent throughout, while the other confronts her regarding her intent to run off with the woman's husband, this time in what seemed a Depression-era set and costume. These are fine little bits, but they seem to me, as often one-acts do, merely character sketches of a larger piece that was never realized. I see nothing so inviting here but the skillful displays of the two actresses Kristen-Tripp-Kelly and Lisa Vitrano. The third piece, "The Elliptical", seems an entire full length play in comparison. It concerns three young friends, a guy and two girls, maturing into somewhat neurotic and sexually questing adults. It's funny, and slight and lofty, and often comes dangerously close to becoming merely a stand-up routine. When I see a production as sharp and succint as "Triangles" is, I can't help but focus on its shortcomings. The players in "The Elliptical" do a fantastic job hustling about the stage blending time frames and delivering monologues, almost at an action packed pace, but some of the comedic deliveries, especially from the talented ladies, Bonnie Jean Taylor and Kelly Meg Brennan, (so what's with the triple names in Buffalo theatre?), both of whom I loved watching perform this sexy and sweet ode to romantic relationships, get a wee bit tiresome and repetitious. Todd Benzin's performance is a class act; that rare display of light-hearted conviction and exceptional timing; groping, lusting, and conniving after the girls like his existance depended on it. Really, this is a production, so friendly and unassuming, you can't help but love it.