Month: July 2024

Sandy manages a Wedding Chapel, it seems, single-handedly. Wedding Chapels (as we all know) are a staple of Las Vegas culture. Perhaps the freewheeling intoxication and high spirits (as it were) of gambling, encourages impulsive choices. It’s impressive, when you consider all the details. The ceremony fee is not excessive, it’s the amenities that get you. Who knew you could book a helicopter, tape a video, or get Elvis to preside? Throughout her stint as a (thrice divorced) provider of happiness, Sandy has seen a lot, and learned a lot. When she says she can spot the marriages that will tank immediately, she seems completely credible.

First we see Bev and Stan. When Bev’s husband left her for Stan’s wife, and Stan’s wife left him Bev’s husband, they resolved to wed for retribution. Then Stan decides to call their erstwhile spouses, to rub it in their faces. Vanessa and Bryce are television stars whose careers have seen better days. There was a time when the paparazzi followed them day and night. Now (as they say) they couldn’t get arrested. Next are Fiona and Marvin. Fiona is tough, snappy and contentious. She’s always got her dukes in the air. Marvin is a computer whiz. Terribly shy and undeniably cerebral. But somehow, like Nichols and May, they seem the perfect fit.

Playwright Nancy Frick has concocted an ingenious premise. Like Neil Simon she knows how to make the most of the improbable, sparking hilarity while piquing our humanity. Each couple has a blind spot or difficulty. I am a huge fan of Pocket Sandwich’s notorious “popcorn tossers”, but Four Weddings and an Elvis was every bit as entertaining. Just on a different level. It was introspective, eccentric, sagacious, chaotic. It reminded me of Love, American Style, but more intelligent.

Something I’ve always adored about Pocket Sandwich Theatre, is button down, buoyant, enthusiastic playfulness, both on and offstage. Apart from featuring the occasional drama, there’s a fizzy, chipper, careless feeling that just makes you smile with your heart. Waiters, waitresses, band, performers, crew. We’re all here for a great evening. During the interval, Elvis took questions, and sang Happy Birthday to guests. Where else could you find that, besides Pocket Sandwich Theatre?

Don’t miss PST’s current comedy: Herbitts Wizards, and Borks, Oh My! Playing July 5th-August 24^th, 2024.

Pocket Sandwich Theatre presented Four Weddings and an Elvis May 24^th, 2024, and closed June 22^nd, 2024. Downtown Carrollton Square, 1104 S. Elm Street, Carrollton, Texas 75006. pst@dallas.net.  214-821-1860.

Emma Nolan lives in Edgewater, Indiana, a provincial town where she attends James Madison High School. She wants to take her girlfriend, Alyssa Greene, to the dance. Despite widespread recognition and acceptance of the Queer Community, parents and School Board members have forbidden this, and news has reached the media. Alyssa and Emma are subjected to scorn, mockery, and shade.

Meanwhile, Barry and Dee Dee have just suffered a traumatic blow to their egos. Their opening night performance of Eleanor (a musical about Eleanor Roosevelt) was skewered by the New York critics, and they’re in a panic. Brainstorming with their friends: Angi, Trent, and

(their agent) Sheldon, they come across Emma’s story of social injustice, and resolve to inject themselves into the predicament. They are deeply, truly moved for Emma, and sincerely hope the publicity will bolster their flatlining careers.

Their motives are not exactly altruistic, but they make a good faith effort. There are press conferences, decrees by the governor, town hall meetings, and scuffling attorneys. Trent, Sheldon, Dee Dee, Barry and Angi show up with protest signs, bull horns and vehement denunciations. Always when the paparazzi is there. It’s easy to see the grownups are advancing their own ideologies. They don’t want to be fair, they just want what they want. Emma is almost an afterthought.

Written and composed by Chad Beguelin, Bob Martin and Matthew Sklar, The Prom is a clever musical: insider theatre gags, solid jokes, a smattering of pathos, painful personal epiphanies, pleasant songs both gripping and light. Perhaps something of a mashup of It’s Only a Play and Inherit the Wind. The Prom takes what might have been intense and tumultuous, and being a comedy, doesn’t go there. It doesn’t dip everything in corn syrup either. It’s frank. It’s well-crafted. The good guys win and the surprising solution doesn’t go by the numbers. The LGBTQ Community (is painfully aware) we’re not yet out of the woods. That being said, The Prom will lift you up, and coax the sniffles. Seeing the teens (and their parents) in the audience, with relieved smiles and tears in their eyes. It was definitely worth the trip.

(They could use handsome valet or two.)

Uptown Players presents The Prom, playing July 12th-28th, 2024. Kalita Humphreys Theater. 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd, Dallas, Texas 75219. 214-219-2718. uptownplayers.org

Sophie and Gregor are a married couple who share a home and a psychiatrist, perhaps ill-advisedly. His name is Dr. Frans. They see him separately, without guessing his advice may leave something to be desired. Now, an unbalanced therapist is not necessarily a bad one, but when he says to shove their emotions down, we might wonder. You’d think this would be the last goal you’d be aiming for. You don’t heal a problem by ignoring it.

Gregor confides that he has killed Wink, a scruffy, malodorous cat Sophie rescued. But before he buried Wink, Gregor skinned him. Dr. Frans acknowledges the transgression and dismisses it. Of course, Gregor lies to Sophie, who is distraught. In the meantime, Wink (our cat) miraculously rises from the dead. Was he accidentally buried alive, or did Gregor wish to torture him further? Whatever the explanation, playwright Jen Silverman imbues the event with enigma and suggestions of the metaphysical. Wink tracks down Dr. Frans and rocks his world. The more one learns about the other, the more beguiled.

A prevailing notion regarding sexuality, humanity and romance is a catch. Some might contend that the most delectable, intense sex is the opposite of the formal, the civilized. But if we dispense with good manners, if we unleash the id (if you will) how far is too far? Some may piss or thrash or humiliate, but when do we cross the line? (Consider Damage by Josephine Hart or Steps by Jerzy Kosinski.) Both Sophie and Gregor speak wistfully of their courtship, laden with tenderness and surprise, but now it seems the only thing left is deception and estrangement.

It may be too late to call it a trend, but it’s not unusual to see plays that begin as comedy (in this case sly, shadowy satire) and gradually move into the realm of anger and despair. Silverman, it seems, loves to play. In the best sense. She may push a bit to make a point, but it’s a venial sin. Wink is perhaps the perfect metaphor for unapologetic, pragmatic impulse. He may be amoral, but neither is he vindictive or conflicted. Wink is a spectacular circus of alpha rage, savagery, regret, adoration, chaos: flouting the edge of the abyss. A mashup of romance, bestiality and despondency.

Second Thought Theatre presents Wink, playing June 26th-July 13^th, 2024. 3400 Blackburn St. Dallas, TX 75219. (214) 897-3091. secondthoughttheatre.com