Ever
wonder what goes on in the Green Room before a theatrical performance? Moon
Over Buffalo offers a peek…plus a whole lotta laughs at Wilmington Drama League.
The
year is 1953. The setting is Buffalo, New York (“Scranton without the charm.”)
A touring company is performing Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and Noel
Coward’s Private Lives at the Erlanger Theater. George and Charlotte Hay (Alan
Harbaugh and Sabrina Justison) boast a long-standing marital and acting
partnership, both of which have frayed at the edges. Then they learn that the
great film director, Frank Capra, needs to re-cast a movie he’s making and is
flying in from New York City to see them perform. This could be just what they
need to recoup the stardom they’ve lost and feel they so richly deserve.
But
first…
George
has impregnated Eileen (Carolyn Peck), a young actress in the troupe. When
Charlotte finds out, she tells him she’s fed up with his infidelity and is
leaving him for their lawyer, Richard (Shawn Klein). Meanwhile, Rosalind Hay
(Patricia Egner) has arrived to introduce her parents to her fiancé, Howard
(Andrew Dluhy), a TV weatherman. He’s a geeky but affable TV weatherman who
just happens to be a big fan of her parents. He loves Rosalind but is absolutely
clueless about what’s going on, Rosalind, for her part, was in love with Paul
(Luke Wallis), the Hays’ theatre manager, who still has feelings for her. Adding
to the merriment is Ethel (Patricia Lake), Charlotte’s deaf-as-a-post stage
mother who hates the boards George treads on and nearly brings him down with
one innocent-looking coffee pot. Comic misunderstandings and mistaken
identities abound.
Ken
Ludwig’s 1995 madcap farce is still fresh in 2017 and just the ticket for an
evening full of fun and laughter. Let’s not forget that this play was worthy
enough to lure Carol Burnett back to Broadway after a 30-year absence and, if
you didn’t know better, this superb production might have you believe you’re
sitting in a theatre on the Great White Way. It’s that good.
Harbaugh
and Justison simply melt into their roles. Harbaugh is brilliant as the very
inebriated George. Peck applies just the right amount of affect to her role as
the pregnant and distraught ingénue. Dhuly is convincingly clueless as the
action swirls around him. Egner, Klein and Wallis know every nuance of their
characters. Lake is downright hilarious as the hard-boiled stage
mother/mother-in-law from hell.
Kudos
to the directorial team of Gene Dzielak and Melissa Davenport (as well as mentor/director Ken Mammarella) who pulled everything together. Also deserving of a
standing ovation are Helene and Tony DelNegro for their retro 1950s backstage
set, Cara Tortorice for her fabulous costumes and Lee Jordan for choreographing
the playful duel between the Hays.
This
one is not to be missed.