There is a unique relationship between Tessie and her son Conor. He calls her by her first name, orders her to make food for him and she gladly follows without much resistance. She loves to have the radio constantly blaring opera in the background – Puccini – Rossini – Verdi and often gets lost in the music. One can’t help noticing that Conor is unusually violent and verbal when he interacts with his friends on line.  It’s also evident that Tessie goes from being harried and stressed with her deadlines for desserts to being very mellow when she deals with Conor and occasionally she seems to have brief spells where she almost faints and needs to sit down. 

Gigi Bermingham - Nicholas Podany

 

Yet things seem to work for both until a couple named Dale Jr. (the wife) and Dale Sr. (the husband) enter. Dale Jr. is the woman who contracts Tessie to make the desserts and the minute she enters the house to pick up the order we know that there will be problems. She is loud, self indulgent, abusive and a complete know-it-all who wants to be in charge no matter what. Her husband Dale Sr. is a total wimp. He tries to befriend Conor and be a “cool” friend but Conor sees through that and just humors him along.

 

This is where the audience begins to wonder what’s going on. Why does Dale Jr. keep nagging Tessie about what happened and how she should try to get back into the groove of life? Why does Tessie try to deny that anything is wrong and why does Conor try to protect Tessie from the insinuations and accusations that Dale Jr. flings at her? The question is, what is it that really happened and is Tessie hiding something?  Author Kathryn Graf has carefully crafted this story with meticulous care, layering the early scenes with dialog and actions that will later resonate as the climax develops. When the explosive end bares the tortured soul of this family, all the early minutiae of the previous scenes crystallizes the motivations for the mother and son’s behavior and their reasons for concealing it.

Brendan Patrick Connor - Julia Prud'Homme - Gigi Bermingham

This would not be easy to pull off without the studied and careful direction by Joel Polis who guides the extraordinary cast with inspired vision. Julia Prud’Homme’s portrayal of Dale Jr. as the interfering and spiteful caterer is nothing short of brilliant and Brendan Patrick Connor plays off that energy to etch the pitiable, weak but vile character of Dale Sr. Together they create the couple you love to hate. Not enough can be said about Gigi Bermingham’s Tessie. She creates a woman that is a combination of pathos with a faux joy de vivre all the while harboring an unspeakable sorrow that she tries to bottle up by creating a fantasy, surrounded by opera songs, which will never materialize and a life that can only deteriorate in time. Young Nicholas Podany, a sophomore in high school is electrifying as the fifteen year old Conor, who is not only an enabler but also a victim and at times a detached participant in his mother’s plight. Podany is definitely one to keep an eye on in the future.

Theatre is nothing if not dramatic, and we learned that on opening night the actor scheduled to play Jimmy became ill at the last minute. In true tradition, who steps in? The UNDERSTUDY, of course, a young Jonathan Griffin Sterling who was running through his lines even as people were cueing up at the box office. The play opens with him and the first dialog is between his character and Tessie. How did Sterling do? His hand must be sore after the play as friends and audience members lined up to knuckle tap and high-five him. With only a few lines, the character was pivotal in the play even if he did not appear again after Scene 1.  Mention must be made about the set and lighting by Jeff McLaughlin.  It can't be easy to bring a full working kitchen on stage, detailed to the nines and then make a small den on the side, but it was done with admirable attention to even the smallest elements. Great job!

So let’s bottom line this play by pulling out the well worn but very appropriate adjectives often used in reviews. Compelling – gripping – masterful – forceful – (add your own here). Each word describes a work that grabs you unexpectedly and keeps on burrowing in your memory long after the play.  Artistic Director Gary Grossman was excited about this play in his introduction and it’s easy to see why. Kathryn Graf knows something about feelings and emotions and possibly about irretrievable loss.  We see here that there are some sorrows in life that not even the sweetest dessert can alleviate.

Plays through November 20, 2011 at Skylight Theatre, 1916 North Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90027. Reservations at 702 KTC-TKTS (702-582-8587) or online at www.ktctickets.com 

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