The Perfect Wedding
The current
show at Granite Theatre is Robin
Hawdon's farce "Perfect Wedding" which is set in a
country hotel outside of Boston. A bridegroom wakes
up in the bridal suite on the morning of his wedding
day to find an extremely attractive naked girl
beside him in bed. His bride-to-be is about to
arrive at any moment. Naturally the groom can't
remember the girl due to his post stag
party hangover. This leads to the pretty stranger
locking herself in the bathroom. The groom's best
man reluctantly agrees to pretend that this stranger
is his girlfriend. Of course he confuses the
housekeeper for this girl. Throw in the bride's
daffy mother to the mix of this farce and you have
the necessary ingredients with all the lies,
charades, mistaken identities, testing of
friendships and loyalties. The show builds to a
crescendo of a madcap romp with lie upon
lie. Directed brilliantly by Jude Pescatello who
keeps his six performers in constant motion,
infusing them with hilarious personas and clever
shtick leading to a spontaneous standing ovation at
their expertise.
Jude
creates some wonderful comic performances with his
cast. A bathroom brush is used comically in the
show. Stage manager Arthur Pignataro keeps the show
running smoothly all night long while Brian Olsen
runs lights and sound. David Jepson designed a
gorgeous hotel suite set for this show.Matt
Royality-Lindman tackles the huge role of Bill, the
naughty bridegroom-to-be who tries to weasel his way
out of this sticky predicament. He delivers a
winning performance with his portrayal and obtains
humor from all his lines. The biggest scene stealer
in this show is Ben Leatham as Tom, his best man. He
takes this harried but loyal friend to the comic
heights with his many lines and wonderful
comic timing with Matt, making a terrific crazy duo
turning the show into a whirlwind of door slamming,
shtick filled fun. One of his funniest lines is a
tongue twister delivered to a constantly laughing
crowd. Ben's funniest prop is a large carving knife
that has to be seen to be believed. He proclaims he
is going to give someone the biggest vasectomy in
the world. Susanne Colle plays Rachel, the beautiful
brunette bride to be who's perfect wedding might not
be so perfect after all. She makes the unsuspecting
girl into a woman on a mission to find out what
really happened in the bridal suite. Her expertise
as an actress shines through in this role.
Erica
Strickland, a pretty blond, plays Julie, the
housekeeper who is enlisted to help Bill hide what
really happened. She gets more exasperated as she
is first mistaken for being a call girl slapping Ben
in the face twice then later on has to pretend to be
Tom's girlfriend. She also stomps on Ben's
foot. Erica runs roughshod over these crazy people
calling them rabbits at their bizarre behavior which
would be insulting to the rabbits. Rochelle
Weinrauch, a beautiful brunette bombshell, plays
Judy, the mysterious girl found in Bill's bed. The
audience finally finds out who this girl is as the
show unfolds but revealing it would spoil the
ending. Rochelle runs around the stage trying to
cover her tracks only ending up confessing what
really happened at the close of the show. She
pretends to be the maid at one point in the show
which leads to many laughs Last but not least is
veteran actress Nancy Pinto who plays Daphne,
Rachel's over zealous mother who keeps singing in a
high pitched off key voice "Here Come the Bride"
while sewing the hem of the wedding gown. The rest
of the cast stick their fingers in their ears every
time she sings. So for a hilarious farce, be sure to
catch "Perfect Wedding" at the Granite Theatre.
PERFECT WEDDING (2 July to 1 August, 2010)
Granite Theatre, 1 Granite Street, Westerly, RI
1(401)596-2341 or www.granitetheatre.com