[NEohioPAL] REVIEW: Let Them Eat Cake in North Canton

[Tom Wachunas]

Their Just Deserts

By Tom Wachunas

 

The words of a gossip
are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s most inmost parts.

-       
Proverbs 18:8 –

 

    While many of you
may take the title of this commentary to be a misspelling of an archaic phrase
meaning ‘getting what they deserve’, I assure you it’s not.  The apparent plural of an arid, sandy
wasteland is in fact the original correct spelling, here pronounced ‘desserts’,
as in after-dinner sweets.

 

     I can also assure you that “Let Them Eat Cake”,
the new play by Sherry Yanow and Deborah Fazelle (their fourth collaboration
produced in Canton) that plays for one night only (Saturday, June 4) at Fieldcrest
of North Canton, is anything but dry or archaic. Fazelle directed this engaging
and facile comedy, and has assembled an equally facile cast to deliver the
story that unfolds, in two Florida households, about two mothers on Mother’s
Day, their sons, their sons’ girlfriends, and one nosy gossip.

 

    And it’s there –
the gossip – where the story begins. After repeatedly overhearing what she
(mistakenly) takes to be late-night sexual shenanigans in her neighbor Kelly
Fox’s apartment, Carmen Montoya phones her best friend, Hope Chancellor , and
informs her that Alvin Chandler has been messing around with Kelly. That would
be THE Alvin Chandler, the wildly rich, successful software mogul, and son to
Brenda Chandler, who happens to be Carmen’s cousin. The two-fold problem is
that Kelly is supposedly the sweet, devoted girlfriend of Hope’s veterinarian
son, Brad. And Carmen knows that Alvin is ostensibly head-over-heels for
Crystal Butterfield, a local weather girl. More phone calls from Carmen to both
Hope and Brenda ensue, and the concerned mothers, thoroughly ensnared by rumor
and innuendo, begin to pry more seriously into their sons’ respective romances.

 

    On one level, the
story brings to mind the famous moment in “Cool Hand Luke” when Strother Martin
announces, “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.” The narrative web
of this play becomes further tangled when we learn that Brenda is vehemently
opposed to her son’s plan to marry Crystal, whom she knows to be a manipulative
gold digger and ostentatious fraud. But Alvin is hopelessly blinded (not to
mention an inexperienced nerd when it comes to relationships with women), and
intent on surprising Crystal with an engagement ring hidden in a Mother’s Day
cake. Meanwhile, Hope does all she can to encourage her reluctant son, Brad,
terribly hurt by a past failed romance, to finally pop the question to Kelly,
else lose her forever. To make matters worse (but in the end actually better),
the bakery botches the two households’ cake orders, and in the confusion of
similar last names, it’s Kelly who gets Crystal’s ring.

 

    This marvelously
crafted study in irony and romance has a practically Shakespearean flavor to
its  comedic narrative twists. All seven cast
members are superbly suited to their roles, delivering them with palpable
verve. As the busy-body Carmen, Janet Fashbaugh Mohler is deliciously funny and
even naughty as she drops her “news” bombshells, seeming to relish the fallout
as it lingers in the other characters’ reactions. Denise Robb, playing Brenda,
is startlingly credible and urgent in her portrayal of the exasperated,
pleading mother, and in her tense stand-offs - 
masterful moments of understated venom -  with Crystal. An effective and equally urgent
counterpoint is the character of Hope, played with authentic, fervent warmth by
Marilyn Wells as she passionately encourages Brad to marry Kelly. In that role,
Ariel Roberts is intriguing to watch as she emerges from dutiful and fawning
girlfriend into honestly revealing her desires for married life with Brad,
played by Drew Schaar. His is an intriguing transformation, too – from self-satisfied
career man keeping marriage at arm’s length, to lowering his unreasonable
defenses.

 

    Joseph M. Haladey
III is electrifyingly spot-on as the zany, immature, love-struck Alvin. For all
of his character’s business acumen and hefty bank assets, he’s woefully poor
(and just plain stupid) at recognizing how his desperation for a woman to love
him for himself has lured him into Crystal’s conniving. In that role, Meagan
Sonner is brilliant and sensual in an utterly decadent way – fully capturing
all her character’s wanton greed, ill-founded self-assurance, and shallow
deceit. It’s gratifying to report that the story provides for her well-earned
comeuppance. 

 

    If there’s any bad
news here it’s that this dinner-theater show runs for only one evening before
moving on to performance in Springfield, Illinois. The good news is that as
both director and playwright, Deborah Fazelle, and her extremely talented Top
of the Town Productions company, continues to forge a viable and exciting
presence here in the Canton area. Look for her next show - a political thriller
to be mounted at the Kathleen Howland Theatre in August.

 

    For tonight, there
just might be tickets left at Fieldcrest of North Canton, 1346 Easthill St. SE,
North Canton. Dinner at 6:30, followed by the show. Tickets are $30 and can be
ordered by calling (330) 966 – 2222.

 

    For other reviews
by Tom Wachunas of the performing and visual arts in the greater Canton area,
please visit his blog, ARTWACH, at  www.artwach.blogspot.com      

   

 

 

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