‘Beloved’ takes its place in Southern pantheon
Strong-willed, offbeat, opinionated Southern women.
Small towns with far more characters mentioned than are ever in the cast.
Unique, implicitly described situations and backstories.
Plenty of comedy, with a helping of dramatic undertone and personal crisis.
“Dearly Beloved,” which Richmond Hill Players opened last weekend in Geneseo, Ill., takes its place alongside “Steel Magnolias” and “Crimes of the Heart” in the funny-Southern chick-theater genre.
Instead of Louisiana (“Magnollias”) or Mississippi (“Crimes”), this time we’re in Fayro, Texas, population 3,000.
It’s wedding day for the daughter of Frankie Dubberly (Lorrie Halsall), and her sisters, Twink (Valeree Pieper) and Honey Raye (Diane Greenwood), are there to help, whether she wants it or not.
Pieper puts her all into Twink, who plans the wedding reception as a potluck and follows a psychic’s prediction that the vows will give the same idea to her ne’er-do-well boyfriend (Archie Williams).
Greenwood deliciously overacts as the elder sister, who won’t admit that her complaints about the air conditioning are really hot flashes. (Greenwood uses almost all the props onstage to fan herself in just about every locale of her body.)
Halsall tries to keep a stoic exterior as the youngest sister, dealing with an uber-redneck husband (Stan Weimer), her own medical dilemma and a runaway bride (Kady Patterson).
Patterson also doubles as the bride’s twin sister and bridesmaid, who’s making goo-goo eyes at the UPS-deliveryman-turned-seminary student (Nicholas Waldbusser) who’s recruited at the last minute to perform the ceremony.
Also shining are Eugenia Giebel as the local flower shop owner/wedding planner/town gossip, Susan Philhower as the distraught, scheming mother of the groom and Larry Lord as the local sheriff’s deputy.
The 2005 script, written by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten (who also wrote “Dearly Departed”), has enough current references to keep it up-to-date yet remain what is essentially a traditional comedy. The lopsided second act includes a gospel song by the three sisters (who were once a church act called the Sermonettes), which would have served nicely as a finale except for a final scene necessary to tie everything up. On the bright side, that does lead into a very rare curtain call-slash-hoedown that concludes the night.
Director John VanDeWoestyne succeeds in guiding 11 cast members through 18 scenes and a set full of cumbersome tables and chairs. He keeps a brisk pace with lightning-quick set changes and a real eye and ear for comedy.
Heck, there’s even something for the nose. The need for an expansive potluck and the proximity of the stage to the Richmond Hill theater-in-the-round audience forces most of the food onstage to be real, including a roast turkey. Stop and sniff and you might even catch a whiff of bacon frying.
Richmond Hill’s “Dearly Beloved” looks, sounds and even smells good.
David Burke can be contacted at (563) 383-2400 or dburke@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
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