| Drop Dead! | | Print | |
| Written by MIchael Singleton | |||
| Saturday, 20 September 2008 | |||
Iron Street Productions 2008-2009 season opens with a bang, literally. Drop Dead! is only the fifth production for this Hampton Roads upstart, however, it shines with a radiance only years of polishing one’s craft can provide; Le’Royce Bratsveen, Artistic Director, and her team present us with a glimpse into the future of the arts in Virginia.
Hailed as the "The masters of modern farce” by the New York Times, Drop Dead! is written by Billy Van Zandt & Jane Milmore. The play has some auspicious beginnings and the players have big shoes to fill, an Off-Broadway smash, the play originally starred the authors and in its Los Angeles debut, actors Adrienne Barbeau (Van Zandt’s wife), Rose Marie and Craig Bierko joined the cast. The premise is hardly original, but the delivery is honest, if that is possible in a melodramatic, slapstick ‘whodunit’. A cast of has been actors plan to revive their careers in Drop Dead! a potboiler murder mystery directed by "Wonder Child of the Broadway Stage" Victor Le Pewe (a psychotic eye twitching megalomaniac). At the dress rehearsal the set falls, props break, and the producer and an actor are murdered. During the opening night performance, the murders continue. The remaining thespians must save the show and their careers, solve the mystery and stay alive for curtain calls.
Laura Apelt (Mona Monet) has all the commanding presence and star quality required of a TV star who expects the audience shower her with applause upon her arrival to the stage (and we do), Loni Dixon (Candy Apples) is in fine form and the perfect treat as the ‘film actress’ turned ingénue, Amy Sloan (Alabama Miller) is a laugh riot as the playwright who takes matters into her own hands to achieve her play’s desired cerebral effect, and David Adams (Brent Reynolds) is brilliant as the self-important actor, who has occasional moments of epiphany and challenges the audience to contemplate “the snow … the windswept snow.” The character description for the larger than life director calls for a megalomaniac; however, I felt that Bookless’ LePewe while enjoyable to watch never quite connected with his inner ‘drama queen’. This may have been a conscious choice to keep the character from seeming stereotypical and utterly ridiculous, but I think that’s the point. The mock program given to the audience is a ‘hoot’ however; the opening speech prior to the ‘actual performance’ which gives a nod to the aforementioned Mrs. Bratsveen seemed a bit too indulgent. Pacing during the first act seemed to be a little ‘jerky’ like a manual transmission driven by a novice, but to the credit of the players, it seemed to connect me with the rollercoaster of emotion and energy experienced by performers during tense moments of missed cues, ‘enhanced’ line delivery and unexpected events. An interesting proposal to have skilled performers “act badly,” but Mr. Corriveau and company walk the narrow road well. Kudos to the ISP production team and cast for an enjoyable evening watching a total disaster; for those of you easy misled, the disaster is a total triumph! Drop Dead runs through Sunday September 21, 2008. Contact Iron Street Productions for tickets at 757-224-8937. |
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