"Steel Magnolias" - by Robert Harling - Theatre at the Mount (Gardner, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: The CAST of "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" by Robert Harling now playing at Theatre at the Mount in Gardner, MA. through October 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Laura Cavanaugh)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“Honey, it's the eighties. If you can achieve puberty, you can achieve a past."
- ("Truvy") / Robert Harling
Theatre at the Mount
Presents Robert Harling's
"STEEL MAGNOLIAS"
Written by Robert Harling
Directed by Mark Peterson
Cast Includes: Autumn Desisto as “Truvy,” Carol Allard Vancil as “Clairee,” Carrie Mae Holliman as “M'lynn,” Kristen Licht as “Shelby,” Shani Smith as “Ouiser,” Melissa Gates as “Annelle.”
Additional Creative Team:
Producing Director - Gail Steele; Technical Director - Joshua Patino; Lighting Designers - Sam Gagnon, Terrie Hyde; Sound Designer - Sean Kyle; Costumer - David Allen Prescott; Stage Manager - Jillian Whitney; Props Manager - Rachel Twiss; Wigs - Jeanne Reilly; Box Office Manager - Paul Caouette; Graphic Designer - Marketing; Lobby Displays - Lori Adams; Construction Crew: Maiki Coggins, Gavin Ducharme, Daniel Garcia, Elsa Guerra, Rennie Kim, Amber Mason, Evan Shear, Kelsey Vachon, Raine Butler, Cody Hart, Lyn Lambert, Samuel Nieves; Running Crew - Jovan Tremblay, Ruby Tower-Hughes; Costume Change Crew - Amanda Lawton, Hayley Blackmer, Elizabeth Carlson, Rachel Twiss.
Performances:
October 4, 2024 through October 13, 2024
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
Mount Wachusett Community College, 44 Green Street, Room 182, Gardner, MA.
TICKETS:
Tickets are available online at mwcc.universitytickets.com or by phone at 978-630-9388. For additional information contact Professor Gail Steele at 978 630-9162 or g_steele@mwcc.mass.edu
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
With a great sense of style, Theatre at the Mount offers up "STEEL MAGNOLIAS," now playing in Gardner over the next two weekends.
A tightknit ensemble production, there is a bond clearly shown between the company of actresses.
Director Mark Peterson, along with the cast and crew of Theatre at the Mount, has done a marvelous job staging the show, elevating in areas both in cast performance and in technical areas.
Always a favorite among theatre companies and audiences, and even after first hitting the stage approximately 37 years ago, "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" still shows a unique empathy, kindness and, above all, a loving bond between its characters.
Based on Robert Harling’s own experience with his sister's death, Harling wrote "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" to focus on the bond among this group of women of Louisiana.
Not only an iconic 1989 film and a more recent 2012 television event, but the play adaptation, which premiered in 1987, ran for over 1,100 performances before closing in 1990.
Since then, it has been performed all over the country and around the world.
(Photo: Autumn Desisto as “Truvy” in a scene from "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" by Robert Harling now playing at Theatre at the Mount in Gardner, MA. through October 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Laura Cavanaugh)
While the story is firmly set in Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana during the 1980s, "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" has a timeless quality.
Thanks to the solid ensemble performances from the Theatre at the Mount cast, the story never loses focus on its characters and their struggles, hopes or aspirations.
Some of the strongest technical elements includes a fabulously functional set replete with salon chairs, a beautiful floor, plenty of accessories, and hair styling equipment such as an authentic salon sink and salon hair dryer.
There is a totally focused and meticulous approach taken by all for this Theatre at the Mount production.
Although, on the surface, "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" may appear to be a simple play to direct, the content and context of the dialogue combined with the actions involved in the "day to day" operation of this salon soon disprove that assumption.
In "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" there’s a LOT going on, both technically and artistically.
Over the course of the play's journey - which spans 32 months broken down into four scenes in two acts - there are multiple sub-plots in Theatre at the Mount's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" involving the unseen men in the lives of these women.
Not just husbands (or even late husbands), but also boyfriends, fiancés, brothers and even sons.
Thankfully, these men are never seen as they would simply prove to detract from the real story here which is a story of these six women, and it is a story well-executed by a well-grounded ensemble of actresses.
(Photo: Autumn Desisto as “Truvy” with Melissa Gates as “Annelle” in a scene from "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" by Robert Harling now playing at Theatre at the Mount in Gardner, MA. through October 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Laura Cavanaugh)
Throughout the script of "STEEL MAGNOLIAS," Harling balances moments of great laughter and joy with moments of tears and sadness.
In staging the Theatre at the Mount production, Peterson has approached the content extremely well, allowing the actresses to perfectly execute that emotional balance contained within the Harling script.
The two-act "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" opens at the in-home beauty parlor in Chinquapin, run by owner-hairstylist Truvy (Autumn Desisto).
Desisto is thoroughly disarming as pure optimist Truvy, who spends most of her time attending to her customers at the salon, if only to not otherwise engage with her unseen idle husband.
Truvy has just hired Annelle (Melissa Gates) who is new in town, having just arrived with little to her name.
Gates is steady presenting the demure young Annelle as a woman with a secret past which is about to be revealed.
Bringing some impeccable comedic timing to Annelle, Gates contrasts nicely to Desisto's more outspoken and jovial Truvy.
Only just-recently married to a shady guy, Annelle's fugitive husband has taken off with her car, money, and everything she owns, leaving Annelle emotionally distraught.
Truvy becomes like an adoptive mother to Annelle, not only hiring her but giving her a place to stay.
Desisto and Gates deserve much credit as they capably execute actual hair styling required in the show (difficult while simultaneously maintaining the flow of the dialogue and actions required throughout).
As the play moves along, Annelle becomes a born-again Christian much to the occasional annoyance of the ladies of the salon.
There is something instantly recognizable in Truvy's clienteles - i.e the ladies who regularly gather at Truvy’s salon.
These women are not just customers to Truvy nor to one another - they are family.
This "family" takes care of one another through all their respective highs and lows, and through all their collective joys and sorrows.
And, as pointed out repeatedly in the show, if you DIDN'T let any of them know you had a problem of some kind in advance, they WILL take offense.
(Photo: The CAST of "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" by Robert Harling now playing at Theatre at the Mount in Gardner, MA. through October 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Laura Cavanaugh)
Two of Truvy's regular clients are the young and determined diabetic Shelby (Kristen Licht) and her concerned mother, M'Lynn (Carrie Mae Holliman).
M'Lynn works as a counselor at the local mental health guidance center but her own mental toughness is about to become sorely tested.
Licht brings a layered performance to the strong-willed Shelby, who has come to Truvy the day of her wedding to get her hair done with very specific instructions on her desired appearance.
With every line uttered, Licht can express a lot of subtext with a single glance.
Holliman is equally strong as overprotective mom M'Lynn, who is concerned for her daughter - VERY concerned - not just for the wedding but for all of Shelby's ongoing "risky" life choices.
M'Lynn chastises Shelby because she feels Shelby risks her health while Shelby feels the risk is what gives her life meaning.
Shelby does this, even though it increases the risk of the onset of severe, possibly fatal, medical trauma in the process.
Licht is steadfast in presenting Shelby's ongoing optimism even in the face of her degrading condition.
Shelby does not wish to be combative with her mother.
Instead, she tries to impress unto her mother that her decision to risk her life to marry and bring forth another life into this world is part of what she feels she needs to do.
Shelby needs to know that, in her own heart - and on her own terms - that her time while here on this earth has been for something other than subsistence.
Parents and children occasionally argue and, in conveying that family dynamic while maintaining a mother-daughter discourse, the performances are genuine and realistic as portrayed by both Holliman and Licht, who have great chemistry.
Some of that combative dynamic between parent and child occasionally extends well into that child's adulthood...if both are lucky.
Among Truvy's other clients is the former “First Lady of Chinquapin,” Clairee (Carol Allard Vancil), who comes across as a permanent fixture at Truvy’s as she almost always seems to be there and is in no apparent hurry to leave.
Vancil is terrific as stately widow Clairee, who was married to the mayor and has become the new owner of a sports team and local radio station.
Clairee also proves a perfect foil for the overbearing Ouiser (Shani Smith), a curmudgeonly customer who has been unhappily married (twice) and has children who never call.
Ouiser's only rumored companion is her unseen dog.
Smith gives a stunningly funny performance, bringing a strong dose of electricity to the acerbic, formidable Ouiser who, as feisty as she is, never comes across as a toxic personality.
Ouiser does show a softer side, as well, as she considers the other women at the salon to be her closest friends...(if, perhaps, her only friends).
(Photo: Shani Smith as “Ouiser” in a moment from "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" by Robert Harling now playing at Theatre at the Mount in Gardner, MA. through October 13, 2024. Photo Credit: Laura Cavanaugh)
On the technical side, while the Theatre at the Mount set is simply gorgeous and functional, with all lighting and sound cues executed seamlessly, the set changes and redresses were sluggish.
Costumes and various wigs used are appropriate for the time and place.
As the title suggests, the female characters in the Theatre at the Mount production may seem “delicate as magnolias” but they are, in fact, “tough as steel.”
The same can be said for the terrific Theatre at the Mount cast.
"STEEL MAGNOLIAS" continues at the Theatre at the Mount in Gardner until October 13th.
So, make sure to book your appointment now to see this wonderful show (although "walk-ins" are probably welcome, as well).
Coming up at Theatre at the Mount will be "THE SOUND OF MUSIC" by Rodgers and Hammerstein beginning November 29th, 2024.
Approximately two hours, 30 minutes with one intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
In Robert Harling's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS," Truvy Jones runs a successful beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies in the neighborhood have a standing Saturday appointment. Along with her anxious and eager assistant, Annelle, Truvy styles the hair of many of the women about town: wealthy widow and former first lady of Chinquapin, Clairee Belcher, local curmudgeon Ouiser Boudreaux ("I'm not crazy, I've just been in a bad mood for forty years”), intelligent and compassionate career woman M’Lynn, and her daughter Shelby, the prettiest girl in town. Shelby’s engagement is the talk of the town, but the joy and excitement of her wedding quickly turn to concern as she faces a risky pregnancy and a myriad of health complications.
As the women of "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" make their way over life’s many hurdles together, they find comfort (and a fair amount of verbal ribbing) in one another!
Mount Wachusett Community College
444 Green Street
Gardner, MA 01440
