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Fun all but guaranteed at Victoria
Think you’re tickle proof? Try to sit like a stone through Act 1 of “Moonlight & Magnolias” at the Victoria Theatre.
Act 2 isn’t bad, but the combined words, timing and antics that take place before intermission in the Ron Hutchinson play that opened Tuesday, May 11, would be safe with a guarantee to provoke delight.
It’s 1939. Three increasingly desperate and tired men of Hollywood history sequester themselves in an office to achieve in five days what others haven’t been able to do in three years — turn “Gone With the Wind” into a movie.
Each of them possesses powerful professional pride, so they survive. Nothing else from their lapels to their dignity is safe. Neither is the furniture, the bananas and peanuts they subsist on, or the crisp efficiency of the sharp-stepping and nimbly spinning secretary just outside the door.
As co-directed by Marsha Hanna and Jake Lockwood, a fabulous cast consisting of Richard Marlatt as famed producer David O. Selznick, Tim Lile as writer Ben Hecht, Erik Gratton as director Victor Fleming and Caitlin Larsen as Miss Poppenguhl make the magic of cast chemistry seem like second nature.
Richard Marlatt and Caitlin Larsen in “Moonlight and Magnolias”
Each creates a distinct consistent character with broad traits and idiosyncratic nuances.
Hutchinson, who also wrote a play called “Topless Mum,” really hit one by taking on this larger than legend situation.
The script falters occasionally, descending to repetition of vocabulary and issues. Some contrast is needed to enhance the verbal parrying and marvellously staged physical comedy involving three Hollywood giants reduced to primates.
The best serious moments have to do with moviemaking from each man’s personal perspective — why screenwriting, directing or producing is the key component. That’s a great scene.
“M&M” always gets back to job one: provoking laughter. If that’s what you need, and who doesn’t, here’s where to find it.
The Miami Valley Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital Broadway Series will present “Moonlight and Magnolias” through May 23 at the Victoria Theatre, First and Main streets. Tickets are $42-$83 at (937) 228-3630 or www.ticketcenterstage.com
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