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Peer Reviews Miranda
Branson Branson Miranda Reviewed by Sherry Deatrick Entire contents are copyright © 2009 Sherry Deatrick. All rights reserved.
"Sometimes you have to go backwards
to move forward." There really is a place called Toad Suck, Arkansas, and director/playwright Hank Willenbrink is proud to say he hails from it. Back in the old steamboat days, captains had to tie up at the Toad Suck Lock when the Arkansas River wasn't high enough. Legend has it that the crew would hit the tavern and "suck on the bottle 'til they swell[ed] up like toads." Willenbrink might have actually been born in Little Rock, but claiming Toad Suck as his birthplace is an interesting gimmick. Just like the placement of "family" photo albums at the end of each row at Walden Theatre. These staged photos show young Miranda eating cucumber sandwiches, wearing braces, messing around with her BFF, hanging out with her BF, at home with her dad. The labeled photographs serve as mute expository dialog as well as a preview. Unfortunately, Willenbrink doesn't stop layering on the exposition with the tried and trite technique of monotonous monologues spewing forth from the lips of 18-year-old Miranda (Madeline Marchal), who lives with her nameless and sleazy magician father (Tad Chitwood). Her boyfriend Barry (Aaron Craker) plays a tuneless guitar and just wants to "make out" with her. Penelope (Jane Mattingly) is the typical backstabbing friend who steals a kiss from Barry in a dark corner, even though she's really not interested in him. In his magic show, the Magician claims to have gained his knowledge from the Navajo, Hopi, and the mushrooms growing in the dung of the sacred cow. I would've liked to have heard more about this concept, which seems drawn from Terence McKenna's Food of the Gods. Like most ideas in this play, it is simply tossed out gratuitously. Miranda's mother wisely ran away five years ago and is now a "beard" for a wealthy gay entertainer in Branson, Missouri. When Miranda catches up to her, she calls her mother a "fag hag." The one-dimensional Mother (Cara Hicks) tries to make up for leaving Miranda by buying her Ozark fudge, hideous sweaters and shoes at the outlet malls nearby. Meanwhile, the "head" and the "legs" that formed the one woman sawed in half by the Magician ran off together and became "dykes," as he repetitively calls them. Under the Magician's spell, they claim to be Miranda's real mother in tandem. They wear matching skimpy purple showgirl outfits and spike heels and move about like conjoined twins. It's hard to tell what Willenbrink is trying to say in this piece. Is it really just another "coming of age" tale? Upon reflection, perhaps Miranda symbolizes modern culture, cut off from the ancient Mother Goddess cults. The Magician symbolizes the patriarchy that keeps people looking away from the trick that keeps them from being free. But the Mother turns out to be a dud. Is Willenbrink saying it's futile to try to reconnect with the cooperative matriarchal society? But then again, twice his characters repeat the quote at the beginning of this review. I may be reading too much into the play. The play drags on and meanders tediously, going nowhere slowly. The actors have nothing to do but awkwardly stand around delivering cartoonish lines to each other. As a result, the younger actors in the cast often resort to over-gesticulating with their arms. Couldn't they have had a carrot or two to chop? Much of Miranda's dialog is delivered with her back to the audience. Chitwood and Hicks strain mightily to make their characters less than hollow, and they almost succeed. Hallie Kirk gives a smooth performance as Legs. Madeleine Miller could use more direction as Head. Her performance is flat. She makes the unconscious "tsk" sound too often and is unsteady on her stilettos. Marchal is certainly not the "one of Louisville's most promising young actresses," as Willenbrink claims in the press release regurgitated by LEO's Erin Keane in her "Staff Pick." She's not bad, but neither is she as phenomenal as LEO would have you believe. Her technique is too studied, as if she were acting in a school play. The LEO Staff Pick says Yacov Smirnoff is in this play. The only Smirnoff I encountered was in the lemon drop I had at the bar down the street. And brother, I needed it!
May 14-16 & 21-23, 2009 Featuring Madeline Marchal, Tad Chitwood, Cara Hicks, Jane Mattingly, Aaron Craker, Hallie Kirk, and Madeleine Miller.
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