The second show of the Walpole Footlighters' 85th season is Ivan
Menchell's, "The Cemetery Club" and is set in Autumn of 2008. The show
is the humorous story about three widows who meet once a month for tea
before going to visit their husbands graves and it begins on the fourth
anniversary of Doris' husband, Abe's death. Ida is sweet tempered, loves
to bake cookies and is ready to begin a new life after her husband,
Murray's death. Lucille is a feisty woman who wants to have fun and
flirt with nearest man because as the audience later finds out that her
husband, Harry cheated on her for the last three years that he was
alive. Doris is prigish and judgmental especially when Sam, the butcher
enters the scene. He meets the widows in the cemetery while visiting his
wife, Myrna's grave on their 40th anniversary. Sam later shows up at
Ida's house with chicken livers in a paper bag. Doris and Lucille meet
with Sam at the cemetery, telling him that Ida isn't ready to move on
with her life yet, squashing the budding romance between Ida and Sam.
They later become guilt-stricken when it nearly breaks Ida's heart.
Throw in a sexy blonde haired friend of Sam's Mildred who he brings to
Selma's umpteenth wedding even though he still wants to date Ida and you
have all the ingredients for a splendid comedy with some wonderful
dramatic moments peppering it up in the second act. Seasoned director
Marianne Phinney picks the five best people for these roles and shows a
strong hand with her topnotch directing whether it is when you are
laughing uproariously at the drunken scene after the wedding or when few
seconds later the show turns dramatic with the confrontation scene
between Doris and Lucille with them both flinging glasses of water and
milk at each other, causing the audience to gasp in horror. Lucille's
breakdown into choking up in this scene and the final one are superbly
handled. Having seen Marianne's direction of "Hollywood Arms", I realize
what a wonderful comic director she is but she tops herself with the
handling of the dramatic moments in this show, too. Brava on a job well
done.
Marianne blocks the show wonderfully obtaining all the laughs where
they are supposed to be. The two story unit set was designed by Dan
Sheehan. The lower level is Doris' home complete with a sofa, two arm
chairs, a piano, a stereo system, a stairway on upper stage right, a
kitchen area off stage right. The ingenious part of the set is that the
cemetery is hidden from view by a light blue curtain that is the same
color as the wall flats of Doris' home. The cemetery set is astounding
with its realistic marble headstones with inscriptions and dates carved
on them with a backdrop of hedges giving it added depth. There is
different greenery at each grave with two stone benches at Harry and
Murray's graves and a lot of ivy on Abe's. The lighting design is by
Tony Liapis, Marianne's son. The Forest Hills, Queens, NY cemetery has
tricky lighting sequences when each of the widows are speaking to their
husbands at their individual graves but Tony handles the transition
between them with ease. Assistant director, Peter Bradley keeps the show
flowing along beautifully from scene to scene.
Roberta Kriegsman does a wonderful job as Doris. She delivers her
lines with passion especially when she disapproves of Ida's budding
relationship with Sam because it is taking time away from her friendship
with Ida. When Ida exclaims she won't be going the cemetery with Doris,
Roberta's facial expressions are priceless there and when she puts
Lucille in her place. One of her funniest moments comes when she takes
wedding cake, an apple, two oranges, a banana and numerous chicken wings
out of her huge purse. The grief stricken scene where she doesn't want
to give up their "club" with her throwing milk in Lucille's face is well
done, too. Chip Winslow who I first saw as Mrs. Potts in "Picnic"
delivers a warm and winning portrayal of Ida who although she still
misses her husband very much, wants to go on living in the present
moment. She steals the other women's purses after their first argument
at the cemetery and wants them to make up with each other. One of her
funniest moments is when she comments on Mildred constantly talking in
the car and making a spectacle of herself. Chip also shines in the scene
when she comes down the stairs when a tragedy occurs in the house, using
only her facial expression to display her grief. She puts her head on
Sam's shoulder at the close of the scene. The third member of this club
is Lucille, excellently played by Barbara Schapiro. She makes this hot
to trot broad a laugh riot with her crazy antics from her very first
line when she utters "Son of a Bitch!" where she is worried that a
handsome, tall blond haired man with a cleft chin has been following
her.. Having seen Barbara play the sexpot, Rosemary in "Picnic", I know
she could handle the hilarity of the role which includes her making Ida
and Doris guessing how much she paid for her mink coat, hat and muff.
The latter item is where she hides the wine she stole from Selma's
wedding. Barbara delivers her one liners with ease and does a dramatic
turn when she pulls off her blond wig after her fight with Doris and
later at the grave when she pulls ivy from it, exclaiming she will not
be visiting there every month.
Rich Morton plays Sam, the butcher who is chased after by the women
in this show. He plays the nice guy who wants to get over his wife's
death very well. He is chased by Lucille and constantly forgets her name
and is very funny when he returns to ask Ida out with him a couple of
times with a hangdog expression. Rich also has to endure the berating of
Sam by Lucille and Doris when they confront him at the cemetery about
moving too fast with Ida. He shows off warmth and tenderness when he
apologizes to Ida for taking Mildred to the wedding. I have seen Rich in
"45 Seconds from Broadway", "Pal Joey" and "Hollywood Arms". Susie
Lawler makes a wonderful debut performance as Mildred, the sarcastic
pretty blond friend that Sam is taking to the wedding. She makes the
most of her stage time by clinging to Sam's arm, making it clear that he
is her property and the others better not try to put the moves on him.
So for a wonderful, funny and moving show be sure to catch "The Cemetery
Club" at The Walpole Footlighters. You will be glad you did.
THE CEMETERY CLUB ( 6 to 22 February, 2009)
The Walpole Footlighters, 5 Scout Road, East
Walpole, MA
