GOOD CAST – LENGTHY SCRIPT

PATSY’S BRIDAL SHOWER
By Nick Kurasz and Richard Schultz
Directed by Richard Schultz
Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre
Brown Road -Mesa
January 6 – May 7
480-325-6700

     There is nothing that makes me sadder than watching a show where the majority of cast members do a good job, but are hampered by a mediocre script which never gets off the ground!

     Unfortunately, that is the experience I had this past weekend when I attended the opening of PATSY’S BRIDAL SHOWER an interactive comedy which  is slated to be a long running show in the smaller space at Broadway Palm. Prior to this, the space has housed murder mysteries as an adjunct theater experience to the normal large scale productions which Prather Entertainment Group presents in their main stage dinner theater. The room is bright and commodious and the buffet dinner is Broadway Palm’s usual delightful fare, but the evening lasts from 6 PM (if you arrive at the suggested time for dinner) and lasts until almost 10 PM, a long time to sit at a table no matter how comfortable the chair. If it were not for the opportunity to get up and walk to the buffet line a couple of times, it would be interminable. And the reason for this extended experience is simple – the show is just too long!

     The premise of PATSY’S BRIDAL SHOWER is actually quite clever – “Trailer trash meets cash” as a blueblood stock broker J.B.Berenson (played by Jordan Daniels) falls in love with Patsy Tucker (played by Alyson Maloney) a casino cashier from Buckeye. The cultures, of course clash. Edie Tucker (wonderfully brought to life by a nubile Kathi Osborne) is the flashy, crass mother of the bride, who is thowing a surprise shower for the lucky couple. Eleanor (marvelously portrayed by Kandyce Hughes ) is the wealthy, snobbishly manipulating mother of the groom who plots as much as she can to break up the engagement. After the opening plot entanglements galore occur wherein Steve Berenson (played by Richard Enriquez), Ellie’s brother-in-law, a hot shot, has-been singer reveals that he is really J.B.’s Dad and Marlo Morningstar (played by Gillian Stanford) the scheming, socialite neighbor tries to woo JB back to her arms. Unfortunately both Enriquez and Stanford are less than convincing in their roles (although he does have a fairly nice singing voice); Stanford , on the other hand, is rather wooden and unbelievable. Another gratuitous side plot is the affair between Edie and Jake, a vulgar lowlife who shares her trailer and spends an inordinate amount of his time describing his preoccupation with Tyra Banks, emptying beer cans for his art (sculptures of Tyra) and chasing women in the audience.

     One of the best performances of the evening, however, is given by Laura Soldan as Bobbitt, Edie;s ubiquitous friend. Soldan is a gem of a comic and a whiz at improvising lines to meet every possible, unforeseen situation which pops up during this very rambunctious show. I believe the strongest elements of the script are the interactive segments where audience members are incorporated into action in various clever ways. Of course there are the normal conversations between actors and audience as they roam through the tables picking on individuals, sitting on laps etc. As you enter, Director Richard Schultz, dressed as local yokel Billy Bob, escorts you to your table often announcing things like “Here comes the groom’s Aunt and Uncle!” or “My you got here rather late”/ During intermission Patsy opened several presents brought by some audience members  (obviously primed to this action ahead of time) while Bobbitt comments on each one. This is a unique way to integrate the audience with the play and was very successful. My only question is what happens to these real gifts, some of which were quite nice. I hope they are given to charity!

     In the second act, a whole series of interactions is brought out to titillate and include the audience.
Each table plays a game of 21 Poker and winners go up on stage for a final drawing; a contest is held to pick a wedding song wherein four groups of singers are taken aside for a few minutes and taught the song with simple choreography and then a winner is chosen as each group performs; two people are dressed in possible bridesmaid gowns and model them onstage. If the entire show had consisted of the basic cash meets trash theme with the inclusion of a few more games and audience segments, I could be writing a different review. But the authors insisted on taking a one or two joke premise and elongating it over and over, while also throwing in extraneous plot elements that just did not belong. A script which started out with a real bang in its first 15 minutes went downhill bit by bit after that. The action was also quite disjointed and hard to follow at times as various scenic elements were added haphazardly, not adding at all to the overall plot line and not proving very funny.

     And that is a shame! The basic show is clever as I have said and there are some wonderful directorial touches (such as when Ellie and Marlo apply their makeup in total sync) but these good points are lost in the length of a script which could stand losing at least 45 minutes off its playing time. Then I could thoroughly recommend a good cast in a good show. But go and check it out for yourself. If you want to lose yourself in some silliness, Broadway Palm’s PATSY’ S BRIDAL SHOWER has it and many in the audience said they enjoyed it thoroughly. I just was not one of them…