[NEohioPAL] Review of CVLT's "Perfect Wedding"

[Bob Abelman]

CVLT's 'Perfect Wedding' perfectly ordinary affair

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 6/12/09

 

The opening night buzz among several patrons in the lobby of the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre centered on the bold choice made by the theater's executive board.

 

It had selected a bawdy, wildly off-beat comedy about a wedding where the bride ends up with her bridesmaid, her sister ends up with the groom, and the two gay wedding planners end up getting married amidst a big Bollywood dance number.

 

This was not usual fare for a small town community theater.

 

Several minutes into the play, the patrons realized they were mistaken.  This was not Charles Mee's risqué romp A Perfect Wedding but, rather, Robin Hawdon's silly British farce Perfect Wedding.  They, along with the rest of the audience, settled deep into their seats and girded themselves for yet another evening of comfortable and highly conventional entertainment.

 

In predictable silly farce fashion, Perfect Wedding delivers a prospective groom, who wakes to discover a strange girl in his bed, his bride-to-be about to arrive any moment and, in the depths of a post-bachelor party hangover, no memory of what transpired.  Highly controlled chaos reigns supreme, as he attempts to explain the inexplicable and make things right.  

 

As would be expected, the play is chockfull of misunderstanding, mistaken identity, circular dialogue and door slamming. The laughs, which arrive with formulaic regularity, are so telegraphed that a near-sighted usher can see them coming.  The story line is so contrived and familiar that the audience knows what's next five minutes before the characters do.

 

To no one's surprise, director Barbara Rhoades has given the lead roles of the groom and his best man to Adam Young and Eric Oswald-two talented local area actors who have appeared in recent CVLT productions with such frequency that their mail is forwarded to the dressing room.  They play their parts well and have a nice on-stage rapport, but their portrayals are without distinction or inventiveness.  They take no creative risks and push no comedy envelopes.

 

The supporting cast includes Rachel Zake as the humorless bride, Brenda Redmond as the naked girl, Denise Bernstein as the chambermaid who serves as an accomplice, and Elaine Sonnie as the bride's mother.  They also deliver fine albeit one-dimensional, standard, peril-free performances.  

 

Predictably, this is an enjoyable show.   Rhoades' effective but color-by-number staging and Ed Wolff's attractive but one-size-fits-all set design are fully functional and genre-appropriate.  They also lack novelty and detail.  The director's program note advises theater goers to "fasten your seat belts."   This warning is equivalent to the "for safety, keep your hands inside the vehicle" notice on the "It's a Small World" ride at Disneyland-well intended but woefully without justification.

 

Sure, there is a lot to be said for theater so safe and familiar it is anesthetizing, allowing patrons to momentarily forget the troubled world that lingers beyond the proscenium arch.  However, theater that lacks innovation and inspiration lacks art.  It is merely a performance, an activity that passes the time but does not mark it.

 

It would have been nice for there to have been as much buzz leaving the CVLT as there was going in.

 

Perfect Wedding continues through June 27 at the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, 56 River Street, Chagrin Falls.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $14, call 440-247-8955 or visit  www.cvlt.org.
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