| Baffled by “Greetings!” | | Print | |
| Written by Wendy Jade | |
| Saturday, 13 January 2007 | |
 Have you ever been to see a production and were
thoroughly entertained and amused but, in the end, had no idea what it was
about? This is how I felt about the
Peninsula Community Theatre’s production of Greetings! by Tom Dudzick.
The director’s notes said this show was supposed to be about “our over anxious, expectation-driven, theologically scrambled Christmas celebration as well as our yearning to reconcile individual faith with the mystery and wonder of God”. A very tall order to fill in two acts, I thought. What the story meant to accomplish by sending a Jewish atheist girl home for Christmas to her boyfriend’s Catholic home (where his mentally challenged brother also resides), I cannot wrap my head around. The opening was a bare set except for two of the main characters sitting in airline seats. The dialog from Andi Gorski, played by Dale Payne, and Randi Stein, played by Sarah Wilde, was forced and felt very unnatural. I found myself thinking that I would not be able to sit through another production of high school quality acting.
The John Goodman-looking Jonathan Manning did a nice job as the mentally challenged brother, Mickey Gorski. It was a difficult role to fulfill I am sure, having to go through the transformation of mentally challenged to “Lucious”, the channeled super being, but he pulled it off with an unassuming realism that was not insulting or over the top in any way. He changed not only his body language and speech pattern but also gave “Lucious” a British accent to make sure we got it. The set design was wonderful. I felt that I really was in the home of the Gorski’s in Pennsylvania. There were knick-knacks and chochkys and tacky blue-striped wallpaper that reeked circa 1970. There were even the needlepoint and knitted stuff that every grandmother owns.
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The day was saved for
me when Lydia Mugler come onstage for the second scene as the mother,
Emily Gorski. I had recently seen her
in another local production and knew that her comedic timing would propel the
story forward and keep me interested. I
was pleasantly surprised then when I got the bonus of Mike White as her Archie
Bunker-esque husband Phil Gorski. They
had chemistry between them that was unmistakable and would lead you to believe
that they really had been married all these years. The sarcastic banter between them made for some great laughable
moments that were reminiscent of any conversation you might eavesdrop on from a
couple married that long.
The set designer obviously paid attention to
detail. 
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Wendy Jade speaks as if most of her acting experience has be on cruise ships full of old people who only see live entertainment at sea and are in bed right after the early buffet. She should really broaden her scope a bit. The reviewer has his opinions, and I have mine. In reality, don't we all love that? This was a fantastic show to run near Christmas. Sure, there were a few rough spots, but overall, Barbara and I left that night with that warm glow from the message of the play. The spirit of tolerance and understanding. Having been stage-managed by Sarah, it was good to see her 'on the other side.' Dale Payne gave a very natural performance--I bought his character, Andy-and the whole Gorki family. Nice ensemble. I'm not sure that Jonathan would appreciate being compared to John Goodman. He has lost a lot of weight in the past year. My 17 year old son and I saw 'Greetings' and got the point. But what would he know; he's just a third year drama student. Based on her first two paragraphs it sounds like the reviewer went into the theatre with the idea already that the play wouldn't impress her. Maybe she was too wrapped up in the holiday rushing-abouts of her own life to enjoy the play. I can't understand how anyone could be 'baffled' by it. |