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| Sean Childress and Kathy Norton in 2 Across. Photo courtesy of Little Colonel Playhouse. |
2 Across
By Jerry Meyer
Directed by George Bailey
Reviewed by Craig Nolan
Highley
Entire contents copyright ©
2013 by Craig Nolan Highley. All rights reserved.
From the moment the curtain
opens on the Little Colonel Playhouse’s current production, the audience’s
attention is grabbed. As the lights come up, we hear the sound of a woman
sobbing. Then we can see a solitary female in a train car, weeping as she works
intently on a crossword. Moments later, the somber mood is broken when a jolly
gentleman enters the car in a rush and immediately asks her to give him her
seat (it’s his lucky spot). This jarring jump from melancholy to humor sets the
tone for the evening of theater ahead.
As we learn more about these
two, we discover that she takes her crossword puzzles extremely seriously (to
the point of lugging around a huge bag full of dictionaries and atlases), while
he does not; when the words get too difficult, he chucks the crossword page for
the sports section. This does nothing to get her to warm to him. She feels that
anyone who can’t complete the small things in life, like crosswords, can’t be
expected to accomplish the big things either.
It’s a strange setup for a
romantic comedy, but it works. As the two polar opposites (both wearing wedding
rings, I might add) finding love in the wee hours of the morning on a transit
train, Sean Childress and Kathy Norton have amazing chemistry and comic timing.
Childress’s performance has a playfulness recalling Steve Martin at his best; and
Norton’s no-nonsense, buttoned-up-but-dying-to-let-her-hair-down portrayal is
vintage Diane Keaton. Possibly one of the best pairings you could expect from
our local pool of actors!
Jerry Meyer’s script is
engaging and fun. It premiered in 2005 in a dinner theater production starring
Bonnie Franklin and Bruce Weitz. But it strongly reminds me of the type of
shot-on-video TV plays they used to occasionally show on the networks in the
seventies. I could easily envision Alan Alda and Carol Burnett in the roles. In
fact, Meyer was a sitcom writer who wrote for many of the classic television
comedies of the era, and this show is definitely influenced by his earlier
work. It is consistently funny, except where it seems to drag a bit during the
second half of the first act.
George Bailey’s direction for
the most part keeps the story flowing, although it does get a bit repetitive at
times (the two performers seem to be constantly getting up and moving to the
opposite side of the train car for no apparent reason); and there are
occasional bits of blocking that just don’t make sense. But he has elicited
strong performances from his actors that also make up for some lulls in the
script itself.
With its minor flaws and
great performances, this is a fun show for a date night. And to top it off, I
learned a few new words in the process (hormonomimetic,
anyone?)!
2 Across
February 7-17, 2013
Little Colonel Playhouse
302 Mt. Mercy Drive
Crestwood, KY 40014
502-588-1557
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