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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Pride and Joy
It's a perfectly lovely world premiere at the Chapel on Alexander. But the actors are of such high quality that you end up watching them as much as listening to Mr. McLaughlin's introspective dialog. Smart, young and energetic Carl Overly Jr. directs for The Midnight Company, doing an excellent job with the great cast. They easily grasp his comic intentions and then go delving into their souls for startling emotional depth. Here the legendary local actress Lavonne Byers is cast as a nice suburban mom. And many of her realizations or changes of emotional direction subtly add heart to the show. She almost seems to churn through each new revelation like an ice-breaker making its way through the impenetrable floes. And Midnight Company founder Joe Hanrahan takes a different tack as her harried husband. Like a champion poker player, he cautiously reads all the other family members before placing his bet. Gradually, though, he's worn down by a gaggle of three grown children who turn an addiction intervention for one into a lifeline for them all. Perhaps the greatest Irish-Catholic joke (beyond all the play's co-dependency laughs) is that they truly believe that each of us can eventually get it right and be freed from whatever ails us. (A "joke," I suppose, because it can never really be disproven.) The admirable set is by Chuck Winning, with very good lighting with minimal instruments by Tony Anselmo, and first-rate costumes by Liz Henning. On stage, Alicen Kramer-Moser balances the almost feral qualities of sneakiness and exposure as the pot-smoking daughter Maggie. She perfectly maintains the comic tone. Sarah Lantsberger has an excellent transparent quality as Sam, the daughter who's staging her own intervention for alcohol abuse. And the terrific Jayson Heil throws himself into a series of emotional chasms as the gay son: a "body-culture" fanatic, in more ways than one. With a lesser cast, it might be just another play. Here it's briskly paced, full of what seems like an occasionally bitter and remorseful cohort of floating shipwreck victims. In a series of delightful clashes, they learn to pull together and wrestle each other up into the same boat. Pride and Joy, produced by The Midnight Company and Colin McLaughlin, runs through July 26, 2025, at the Chapel on Alexander, 6238 Alexander Drive, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit their www.midnightcompany.com Cast: Production Staff: |
