Studio Theater of Bath is continuing their production of “Moon Over Buffalo” this weekend. This 1996 comedy shares the wacky delight of screwball humor, and this ensemble is well cast and skilled. Thom Watson’s direction flows naturally and the script is wicked clever, so the results equal an enjoyable evening of shared laughter.
Humor demands a mastery of all an actor’s tools: physical and mental. What’s more, it relies on perfect timing, requiring each person on stage to spin flawlessly with every other actor, so the audience is constantly surprised and offers a blessed human response: Laughter.
Ken Ludwig’s “Moon Over Buffalo” overflows with laughter. Set in 1953, its action pivots around George Hay (Wayne Otto) and his wife, Charlotte (Tamara Lilly), as the heart of a repertory consisting of Cyrano de Bergerac (revised one-nostril version) and Noël Coward’s Private Lives. Buffalo is not New York City, and we learn they’re barely making a living. But theater is their life, and it becomes ours.
Lilly is delightful in this role Carol Burnett made famous on Broadway. She brings fragility to Charlotte and we embrace her… and her George. They’re the hub of an intriguing circle, filled with family members and a couple of folks who never actually end up on stage.
Otto plays the patriarch of this fictitious family and brings the necessary skilled veteran’s demeanor to the stage. He has a lengthy drunken scene, which in the feet of one less talented, could be a disaster. Otto slops perfectly.
Their daughter, (April Joy Purinton) is returning home to introduce her fiancé, (Colin Kelley) who is a shy weatherman. She tells him to stay in the green room while she finds her parents, adding, “Nothing will happen in here.” Then we delight as doors open and close on a madcap adventure, where chaos is center stage and someone is always missing. Ironically, this gives the audience more information than the folks on stage. And we love it!
A tribute to any director is when each actor and actress understands his or her purpose within the action of the play. Take a bow, Thom Watson. Grandmother Ethel (Ann Scarponi), Richard (Clay Hawks) and Eileen (Amanda Bobbe) weave sarcasm, intrigue and even marital disaster into the spin of this mayhem. This ensemble create believable actions midst unbelievable situations. Bravo.
One of my favorite scenes is between Roz (Purington) and her former boyfriend, (Max Ater). They offer a flawlessly understated control of the script. And Purington’s later monologue to the Buffalo audience is “embarrassingly” brilliant.
Max Ater’s Paul demands a sort of Velcro control, to hold the action from spinning too far out, where it would be truly painful instead of funny. Ater’s skill is like perfect background music, he just fits: perfectly. The program notes tell us he’s a fairly recent high school grad and a singer – songwriter. Bath is lucky to hold him for this time. Even if this cast weren’t as wonderful as they are, I’d tell you to come just to see Max Ater before he gets away.
There were some opening night issues with initial volume and length of scene changes which were only noticeable because we wanted to savor every word (I know reviewers who don’t laugh dare they miss a line.) and had grown so familiar with the rapid paced action of the play.
Finally, my deeper desire: This cast in repertory at our jam-packed Chocolate Church. There is that much talent and that much reason for our whole-hearted support.
“Moon Over Buffalo” continues at Bath’s Chocolate Church, 804 Washington St., with performances at 7:30 pm Friday and Saturday, May 24 and 25 and matinee at 2 pm Sunday, May 26. Tickets are $12, $10 for members & seniors. For more information, call 442-8455 or email info@chocolatechurcharts.org