Dearly Departed
Dearly Departed
By David Bottrell and Jessie Jones
Directed by Wade Hair
Breakthrough Theatre, Winter Park FL</strong>
Being dead is no picnic, but sometimes survival is worse. “Mean and Surly” Bud (Marty Radner) collapsed into his Fruit Loops, and it’s not like there’s a trust fund to distribute. His wife of 39 years wants his nickname on the tombstone, his responsible son Ray-Bud (Anthony Marando) has to foot the bill, and his broke brother Junior has been picking up women in the K-Mart parking lot and now his wife knows. And this all takes place in the south, and where else is poverty and in-breeding funnier? Like all Breakthrough shows the cast is ginormous, but everyone seems to fit on stage when its called for.
The funniest guy up there was Franco Colon playing Royce, the nephew. His deadpan, quirky responses to his overbearing mother Marguerite (Marian Dunham) were priceless. Ms. Dunham was a little over the top; as the Jesus obsessed Baptist she was more caricature than real person. I loved Reverend Hooker (Damany O. Riley) and his hip flask of personal salvation; he can preach my eulogy anytime. Mr. Marando did the slow burn and was surprising and surprisingly adept when he threw a very convincing stage punch to Junior; all it needs to really sell it was a fist to a side of beef sound effect. Mr. Radner died too early to get much stage time, but the nearly mute Delightful (Alicia Boswell) succeeded in eating at every moment on stage and drawing solid laughs.
The family dynamics here feel real and authentic; out of their nest of desperation only Ray-Bud seems to have a hope of a decent retirement. And the others? They will stumble along from disaster to disaster, supported by faith and fast food, and slide back in to the safe arms of family loyalty and bad decisions.
For more information, please visit http://www.breakthroughtheatre.com or look them up on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Breakthrough-Theatre-of-Winter-Park/
