Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Theater Review: Opal’s Husband

By Mark-Brian Sonna of MBS Productions

Want a good reason to play hooky from work? Look no further then One Thirty Production’s presentation of John Patrick’s farcical comedy Opal’s Husband.

One Thirty Productions is a new theatre company in the DFW area theatre scene. Their opening show Driving Miss Daisy inaugurated this nascent company and Opal’s Husband is their second production. All I have to say is “wow!” Other theatres better watch out! Of course, they won’t have much competition because the unusual thing about this new company is that all their productions are matinées and run at 1:30 p.m. Their target audience is retirees and their play selection is aimed at this set. In other words, expect play with seniors being the main characters, or that appeal to this age group. They also will choose scripts and shows based on the concept of good, clean fun.

Opal’s Husband is a comedic gem. Not a diamond, ruby, or emerald, but a nice garnet, or amethyst. This is not to be considered a great play, but a very good play and most enjoyable. You will laugh at the wonderful gags, the well-timed slapstick, and sigh as you appreciate the folksy wisdom imparted by the lead character Opal. The preposterous plot deals with good natured Opal marrying an ancient man in order to save him from his daughter who insists on placing him in a nursing home. The set up allows for a plethora of one liners dealing with age, familial relations, and the care of the elderly in nursing facilities. John Patrick’s wit matches that of Neil Simon in being able to deliver comic moments inspired by the lunacy of the characters.

Marty Van Kleeck who directed the play has assembled a troupe of five well known and competent actors. Her direction is assured. She is also able to bring out delicious and unexpected moments of humor in the blocking. At one point the daughter character pretends to have fainted. The father walks in with a glass of water for he was instructed to go get her some “water”. The long cross she forced the actor to make created a series of realizations for the audience: we see the glass of water appear on the stage, then we realize he isn’t going to have his daughter drink it but instead he’ll dump it on her face, and then because he still has a few more feet to go we relish in the anticipation of what he is about to do, when he finally does splash her face the payoff is great. We the audience roared and took quite some time to calm down. A lesser competent director would have made the cross shorter, and gotten to the punch “moment” faster. Ms. Van Kleeck knew there was humor in the anticipation.

Gene Raye Price plays the lead Opal. She is comfortable in Opal’s skin and completely charming and believable. She’s played Opal before and it shows. I have no clue how another actress would have been able to play Opal for Ms. Price gave a definitive performance of this character.

Carmela Lamberti plays the eccentric neighbor Rosita Montefalco. Ms. Lamberti has been able to find quite a bit of work in the DFW area considering her native Italian accent. The reason? She’s a fabulous actor. In this script she is required to be an Italian, so she, of course, does it perfectly. I have met Ms. Lamberti in the past and I must commend her for her make-up, especially the slight moustache on her face. I don’t recall seeing it on her before, which could mean she’d waxed it off. In this show it certainly looked real, and it made her that much funnier.

Larry Randolph as the overly ancient Captain Moony is brilliant. Every moment was comic gold. The scene in which he struggles to peel a banana was the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. It even topped the leech love-making scene I saw earlier at Pocket Sandwich Shop’s Attack of the Killer Mutant Leeches. Mr. Randolph has a comic timing that is perfect. Even the way he rolled his eyes would cause guffaws of laughter from the audience.

Mary Lang as Velma Lemon, and Stan Graner as her husband Otis are both very talented individuals and have extensive theatre experience too. Unfortunately, the weakness in the script is these two characters. At first, it seemed like their characters were too broadly played, but then I realized it wasn’t them, it was the way the characters were written by the playwright. Curiously enough, while in Act 1 they seemed out of sync, in Act 2 their dialogue and shtick fits in better with the action in the plot, yet Act 2 is the weaker of the two acts. It’s not their performances, it’s the script. I’m not saying that the play falls apart, because it doesn’t, it becomes predictable which kills some of the thunderous humor. Actually, Ms. Lang and Mr. Graner are talented enough to compensate for these weaknesses in the script.

I cannot possibly ignore the wonderful lighting by Richard Tregilgas. He did a superb job and I especially liked his treatment of what we call in the industry “brown outs” during the scene transitions. Brown outs are employed so that the actors can find their way back onto a stage under a low light. Mr. Tregilgas devised a clever solution. He allowed a single light to remain at full power thus giving a dim spillover glow to the rest of the stage, yet the light focused on a part of the set and focused the audiences attention away from the actors finding their marks.

Speaking of sets, Keila Fairbanks must have had fun finding all the wickedly funny props littering the stage. Her stage design compelled a few audience members to walk up to the stage to get a better close at some of the props and pieces that abounded. This of course is a no-no on the part of the audience.

The sound design was simply OK. The one missed opportunity was the sound of Otis falling down a flight or steps down in the basement. I appreciated the attempt of humor behind this, but the auditory joke failed because the volume was too low and it sounded like a recording. A big pail with nails, jars, a brick, and some crunched up paper being shaken would have created a more organic sound and would have made it funnier.

I mention that One Thirty Productions is aiming their shows for the senior set, and that was the age range of 90% of the audience. This audience loved the show. And how couldn’t they? It was superbly produced and acted. I know I’m not their target audience, but I can tell you, if they are already producing theatre at this caliber they will become a force to be reckoned with, regardless of the age of the audience.

Opal’s Husband will be playing through March 29 at the Bath House Cultural Center. For tickets or more information call 214-532-1709 or purchase online.

Pegasus News content partner - MBS Productions

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