Diamond Head Theatre
Dan Furst and Lisa Konove play George and
Charlotte Hay, two actors angling for a second
chance, in "Moon over Buffalo."
‘Moon’ dishes
plenty of laughsWhen: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 4 p.m. Sunday through April 11.
By John Berger
Special to the Star-BulletinA good cast, good direction, and a good script. Straight comedy. No gimmicks. What a concept! Diamond Head Theatre's production of "Moon Over Buffalo" contains no pidgin-singing cartoon characters, no guest divas and no cutesy fill-in-the-blank references to local celebrities, but is as funny as any show that's played Honolulu this season.
Dan Furst, best known these days as malevolent Henry Potter in DHT's annual revival of "A Wonderful Life," proves equally accomplished as a comic leading man and agile physical comedian.
Furst's entertaining portrayal of fading actor George Hay is the foundation of an excellent show. Hay must be a basically likable sympathetic character in some scenes, a buffoon or cad in others. Never mind that the role also requires a convincing performance as a sloppy drunk and a number of pratfalls. Furst does it all, and does it all quite well.
The story takes place at a theater in Buffalo, New York. The year is 1953. George and his actress wife, Charlotte (Lisa Konove), were on Broadway for a minute and made a forgettable B-movie or two in Hollywood. Now they're reduced to doing low-budget repertory stage productions of "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Private Lives" in places like Buffalo.
Opportunity suddenly knocks, er, rings. Ronald Coleman has been injured while filming, and his leading lady has walked off the set. Frank Capra is coming to Buffalo to audition George and Charlotte as replacements. This is the break they've been hoping for.
The only problem is that, well, there are actually several problems entangling George and Charlotte, troupe ingenue Eileen (Melissa Houseweart), and their attorney (George O'Hanlon). Will they be able to put their personal differences aside and pull things together in time give the performance of a lifetime for Capra and resuscitate their careers?
The complications are compounded by the unexpected presence of the Hays' daughter, Rosalind (Stephanie Curtis Conching). She quit show biz for a career in advertising and is now engaged to Howard (Bob Jones, not the Honolulu columnist and radio talk-show host), a television weatherman and minor celebrity in the market. Her ex (Jesse Michael Mothershead) is still with the show as George's general factotum and supernumerary cast member.
Jones is hilarious as a goofball dufus who becomes so tongue-tied he forgets his own name when meeting his future mother-in-law. Jones is a fine comic second to Furst in several key scenes.
Martha Walstrum completes the cast as Charlotte's semi-deaf, acid-tongued mother. Walstrum clearly knows the effectiveness of sometimes underplaying a comic role. She connected with the audience on opening night without saying a word.
The versatile Conching displays her comic skills in a romantic scene opposite Mothershead. She's also a key player in the ensemble scene that is the comic climax of the entire play. Konove brings depth to the role of a woman torn between her desire for security and her love of theater. Houseweart is memorable in her DHT debut and is clearly ready for bigger roles.
Veteran director Bill Ogilvie does justice to this modern comic farce by allowing the action to develop smoothly rather than forcing it along.
Sound design is typically mentioned in reviews only when problems exist, but Joel Savoie deserves mention for the clarity of the system even during the comic-action sequences; credit him also for the substantial dressing room set, and tacky "theater backdrops."
Sukey Dickinson shows a great sense of early '50s fashions in dressing Konove, Conching and Houseweart. This show may be too sophisticated for some children, but DHT's "Moon Over Buffalo" is good clean hilarious theater.
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