Playwright: Ken Ludwig
Company: Backstage Theatre Company, Breckenridge
CO
Date of Performance: Thursday, July 19, 2012
Running Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes (includes 15 minute
intermission).
Zach Andrews, in drag as
“Maxine,” offers some useful advice for aspiring actors in “Leading Ladies:”
“Know your lines and don’t bump into the furniture.”
It’s good advice, of course,
but it’s hardly enough to create a memorable theater experience. And despite the efforts of Andrews and
the rest of the cast, “Leading Ladies”
ultimately falls victim to a script that wastes their talent.
Andrews (“Leo”) and Michael
Bouchard (“Jack”) play dual roles in this comedy, each portraying traveling
(and broke) Shakespearean actors, as well as two long lost sisters who stand to
inherit a fortune.
Down to their last dollar, Leo
and Jack learn that Florence, a wealthy woman in York, PA, is about to die, and
two of her three probably heirs have been out of contact for many years. So, Leo asks, why not go for the gold and impersonate the long lost sisters who are unaware of their good fortune? Never mind that Jack gives him
compelling reasons to walk away.
The script requires them to plunge into what is clearly a fool’s errand.
Their scam requires Jack and
Leo to convince the other characters that they are indeed the rightful female
heirs to the fortune. It’s a funny enough concept, but it depends heavily on
the actors’ ability to convincingly bend their genders from male to
female. To be sure, that is no
easy task.
Unfortunately, both Andrews
and Bouchard fall well short of femininity; neither actor comes off as a
passable woman. The costumes did
little to suggest a female form beneath them. The wigs and the sack dresses screamed “cross dresser!” when they should have whispered ”hey…I’m a girl.” Andrews and Bouchard are talented
actors, but as Maxine and Stephanie, well, they’re still Leo and Jack. They just changed their clothes.
The script is much too predictable,
with two unfortunate exceptions. First,
Meg, whose wedding to Duncan is less than 24 hours away, declares her love for
Maxine. Somehow we’re supposed to believe
that she has rejected her fiancé for a lesbian lover who’s clearly a male cross
dresser. Yes, it’s quirky. It’s unexpected. But it’s not credible, and it is neither
funny nor dramatic. It just comes
off as very strange.
The second unpredictable event
was the final scene. It’s a
truncated performance of “Twelfth Night.” The gratuitous nod to Shakespeare
occurs after all the plot items have been resolved. It adds no value to the story, and certainly
does no justice to Shakespeare.
Sometimes a talented cast
and crew can make a flawed script entertaining. However, it is much more common that a flawed script will
overcome a talented cast. Unfortunately,
“Leading Ladies” is a fine example of
the challenge presented by an inferior script.
Take my comments with a
grain of salt; perhaps I’m too jaded for “Leading
Ladies.” Some in the audience
seemed genuinely entertained, but I was not one of them.
NOTE:
This show runs through
Sunday, July 21, 2012 at the Aurora Fox.
From there, it moves to the Backstage Theater in Breckenridge from July
26-August 19.
Director:
Missy Moore
Set Design/Construction: Tina
Anderson
Costume Design: Julie Vance
Lighting: Jen Orf
Sound: Christopher Willard
Cast:
Rachel Bouchard (“Meg”)
Zach Andrews (“Leo/Maxine”)
Michael Bouchard
(“Jack/Stephanie”)
Bethany Lillis (“Audrey”)
David Blumenstock (“Duncan”)
Edith Weiss (“Florence”)
Daymond Caylo (“Doc”)
Haydn Winston (“Butch”)
Photos courtesy Backstage Theatre Company
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