Langhorne Players present MISS WITHERSPOON. A funny romp from a local playwright using different religions of the world to make a few statements on life and making do with the cards your dealt in life, and have quite a few laughs in the process.
Donne Petito (Miss Witherspoon) was perfect, she carried the emotional weight and strength of will that her character is supposed to possess, but also managed to crawl into the skin of her various incarnations.
Raquel Perez was hilarious as the spiritually guiding Maryamma. She really seemed to care for MISS WITHERSPOON and want her to become better.
Lydia Goldberg (Mother) was very well cast, playing both her insanely protective mother and insanely uncaring mother as two very different but equally laughable characters.
Todd Gregoire (Father) was amazing, he had a completely different voice for each character as well as different mannerisms, and even an apparently different walk.
Tatiana Bacchus (Teacher) is a fantastic talent, she made something as simple as the beatitudes into a performance in and of themselves.
A beautifully crafted but efficiently simplistic set, (John Helmke) with creative costumes and props (JoAnne Pinto) and quite a few costume changes. Lighting (Sheldon Zeff) was simple, but efficient. My only complaint was that seemingly recorded voices were used at one point during a blackout, then the lights came up slightly and the crew did a scene change, not sure why the choice was made not to do both at once. The first 10 minutes of the show were despairingly bleak with only a brief moment of absurdity. The show quickly picks up in laughs as the show goes on. The absurdity and bleakness in and of themselves become funny.
The show itself is an interesting story, filled with some hilarious highs and some rather disturbingly funny lows. It does touch on some subjects (suicide, religion) that not all audiences are necessarily going to be able to laugh at. However, anyone who can look at the strangeness of life can find MISS WITHERSPOON as funny if not funnier than anything you can find on network TV these days.
Anyone interested in some existential humor, a funny story about exactly how much worse life can be, or watching some very talented actors do a unique and creative play about embracing the beauty of life no matter how dark it may seem will find MISS WITHERSPOON more than worth their time.
MISS WITHERSPOON
by Christpher Durang
Directed by Kate Fishman
April 25 – May 10, 2014
Langhorne Players
Spring Garden Mill, Tyler State Park
Route 332, 1440 Newtown-Richboro Road
Newtown, PA 18940
215.860.0818
http://www.langhorneplayers.org/
