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Fauquier Community Theatre set to open 'Moon over Buffalo'
Looking for comic relief in this serious times? Look no further than Fauquier Community Theatre, which will present “Moon over Buffalo” for a three-weekend run beginning Friday, March 6.
Directed by Ted Ballard, the Ken Ludwig play is the story of an acting couple who are on tour in Buffalo in 1953 with a repertory consisting of “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Noel Coward's “Private Lives.” This backstage farce brought Carol Burnett back to Broadway and also starred Philip Bosco as her megalomaniac, often drunk, husband and leading man.
Husband and wife team George, played by Greg Powell, and Charlotte Hay, played by Lori Muhlstein, were theater stars in the 1930 and 40s. Set in the 1950s, their careers appear to be over. Playing cheap theaters, they've been relegated to a basement dressing room.
To make matters worse, George has just discovered that Eileen, the company's young, attractive ingénue who is played by Brittany Warman, is pregnant, and he's the father.
The situation takes a brighter turn when George receives a phone call. Fate has given these thespians one more shot at starring roles in the new Hollywood movie, “The Twilight of the Scarlett Pimpernel” epic, and director Frank Capra himself is en route to Buffalo to catch their matinée performance. Capra, it turns out, is looking for lead actors for the movie.
Excitement abounds as the company prepares to put on a sterling performance, but misunderstandings, a confused weatherman, Charlotte's deaf mother, Irish coffee, and the arrival of Gen. Patton create a night of chaos.
“Moon over Buffalo” is really three plays intertwined, noted director Ballard.
“You have all the craziness that includes five doors opening and closing, people hiding in closets, half-dressed actors, near misses in running into people who are hiding, mistaken identities and mass confusion,” he said. “Timing is everything...and as the show goes on, the timing gets better and better.”
Ballard praised his talented cast with being able to pull off the farce.
“Lori Muhlstein does a wonderful job reprising the Carol Burnett role as Charlotte,” he said. “Greg Powell is a perfect match for his high-energy co-star, and plays the ham actor George Hay to the hilt. As one of the play's lines says, 'You could stick cloves in him.'”
McCall and Brian Doyle, familiar faces at FCT, play Roz and Paul. The couple has played in “No Sex Please, We're British” and “The Crucible.” Jay Bolling plays Richard, the couple's theatrical lawyer, and Kevin Kirby is Howard, the TV weatherman. Rounding out the cast are Brittany Warman as Eileen, and Patty McCort as Ethel, Charlotte's mother.
“Moon over Buffalo” will be performed at the Theatre at Vint Hill, 4225 Aiken Dr., Warrenton, at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, March 6 through March 21. The show will also be performed at 2 p.m. on Sundays, March 8 through March 22. Tickets are $14 for adults and $12 for students and seniors and may be ordered online at www.FCTstage.org or by calling (540) 349-8760 or (540) 349-2404.
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