By Ken Ludwig
with Director Lee Deal
Assisted by Heather Huber
The Cast...
Charlotte: Robbie Shafer
George: John Miller
Roz: Kim Parker
Howard: Phil Parker
Eileen: Laura Price
Paul: Philip Parker
Ethel: Ann Sowby
Richard: Ron Roberts
The Crew...
Technical Director: Nancy Morris
Stage Managers: Michelle Allen and P.J. Sligting
Costumes: Tamara Fegenbush
Set Dressing: Nicole Shelton
Props: Nicole Shelton
Hair/Make-up: Shannon & Lynn Ambrose
Lighting: Kevin Hagood
Sound: Charles Wood
Producer: Harry Delugach
Photography: Jennifer Kreyl
Poster Design: Kim Parker, Heather Huber
Prompter: Alana Blomeyer
Publicity: Jeannette Chaney, Lee Deal, Heather Huber, Matt Growden, Jim Zielinski
Moon Over Buffalo is the story of an acting couple are on tour in Buffalo in 1953 with a repertory consisting of Cyrano de Bergerac (revised one-nostril version) and Noël Coward’s Private Lives. This backstage farce by the author of Lend Me a Tenor brought Carol Burnett back to Broadway and also starred Philip Bosco as her megalomaniac, often drunk husband and leading man.
Fate has given these thespians one more shot at starring roles in The Scarlet Pimpernel epic and director Frank Capra himself is en route to Buffalo to catch their matinee performance.
If comedies and farces are your favorite choice of theatre, then Moon Over Buffalo, is sure to please. If you're an actor or a wanna-be actor, then you'll love it even more. It's one of those plays that shows the scenes behind the onstage scenes. In Moon Over Buffalo, there are really three plays intertwined with each other. And, being a farce, you have all the craziness that includes five doors opening and closing, people hiding in closets, half-dressed actors, near misses in running into people who are hiding, mistaken identities and mass confusion. Timing is everything...and as the show goes on the timing gets better and better.
The casting of this show is great. Of course veteran actress Robbie Shafer does a wonderful job reprising the Carol Burnett role as Charlotte. John Miller plays Charlotte's husband George and is fabulous in the drunken-stupor scene. I've heard actors say that it's hard to play being drunk, but Miller makes it look easy!
Everyone in the cast is great, but my personal favorites were Phil Parker as Roz's nerdy fiancee and Ann Sowby as Ethel, Charlotte's hard of hearing, stage manager mother. Both actors brought their characters to life and made believers out of me. When I met Sowby after the show, I wanted to shout to make sure she heard me, she played her deaf part so well.
Just one comment on the bad side and this is probably just me. I love theatre and love to get into fantasy land with the best of them. But I insist on a little semblance of "reality" to my fantasy. I thought the big "boobs" in the show were just way out of line (no pun intended). Whenever someone has bigger boobs than Dolly Parton, I just can't take it seriously, even for comedy. Having said that, I have to admit, that at one point in the show I did laugh outloud about them--and as you know, I hardly ever laugh out loud in the theatre (I'm afraid I'll miss the next line). So, I guess, the "costume" works. You decide.
For a good laugh, check out this production of Moon Over Buffalo by Theatre Huntsville through September 18th.
What the critics said of the Broadway production of Moon Over Buffalo:
‘‘Hilarious . . . building up its laughs methodically shtick by shtick. . . . Ludwig stuffs his play with comic invention, running gags . . . and a neat sense of absurdity. . . . Go and enjoy.’’—N.Y. Post.
‘‘Somewhere up above . . . George S. Kaufman, Abe Burrows, Moss Hart and all those clever fellows who wrote the comedies of yesteryear are rolling with laughter, echoing the audience last night at . . . Moon Over Buffalo. . . . The play is nothing less than a love-letter to live theater.’’—Boston Herald.
RECOMMENDED FOR TEEN AND ADULT AUDIENCES
Theatre Huntsville performances are:
September 10-11 & 16-18, 2004 at 7:30 pm
September 12 & 18, 2004 at 2:00 pm
at VBC Playhouse
You can get tickets to Moon Over Buffalo now by calling Theatre Huntsville at 536-0807.
Moon Over Buffalo Photos
More Huntsville Theatre Reviews
More Articles
Free Huntsville Newsletter
