SEVEN ANGELS -- fun cast in sterling play
BY JOANNE GRECO ROCHMAN | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
‘Centennial Casting’ features, from left, Nicholas Wilder, Lou Martini Jr. and Anthony Patellis on the Seven Angels Theatre stage in Waterbury. Christopher Massa / Republican-American
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Seven Angels' "Centennial Casting" is a laugh-a-minute comedy that will lift just about anyone out of the winter blahs.
Here's a show with a full Equity professional cast that features some outstanding and memorable performances. It's simply impossible not to laugh out loud at the antics that some of these characters pull off.
One character is funnier than the next, but these characters get to the heart of Gino DiIorio's and Nancy Bleemer's madcap comedy.
Vincent Didonato has had a run of bad luck. He has inherited a metal casting company that he never wanted. His wife divorced him years ago and he's not good at making conversation or small talk with the ladies. A disheartened man, he can't find any of the records stored in boxes all over the place, because his late mother, who was in charge of the business, was so disorganized. One of his employees, Doo Doo, played hilariously by Anthony Patellis, helps Vincent get acquainted with the filing system, including the files of actresses who sent their resumes to the company mistaking it for an actors' casting company.
The fun begins when Vincent comes across the file for an actress named Edie. He's so taken with her photo and credentials as a knowledgeable horse person, that when screwy Doo Doo sets up an appointment for her, Vincent can't resist meeting her. Edie lacks confidence, although her rough-and-tough metal sculptor friend, Michele, reassures her that she is a truly good actress. Add to this quirky cast of characters Carmine, who is so overly sensitive that he cries every time he thinks of Vincent's deceased mother, and you have the makings of a perfect storm of comic situations.
With every detail fitting beautifully into place like a happy puzzle, the show works like a charm. At one point Edie, played by Elizabeth Meadows Rouse, performs a monologue from the Scottish play. She takes on Lady Macbeth and delivers her lines better than many a serious actress has. You see the breadth of talent in Rouse, who holds nothing back. She is quite simply terrific. Lou Martini Jr., whom many know from his performances in the TV series "The Sopranos," is a class act. He is one smooth actor who steps right into the skin of the character he is playing. As Vincent, he is so credible as the solid straight man that everyone else can play off him.
Anthony Patellis as Doo Doo is comedy personified. You can't even look at him without smiling. By the time he establishes his character, within the first 10 minutes on stage, the audience loves him. He never fails to get a laugh. Nicholas Wilder, who plays Carmine, also manages to win over the audience with his laughable over-sensitivity. He's a charmer. Amanda Brooke Lerner as Michele takes on the role of a tough gal with a soft heart. She, too, nails her character.
The main section of Erik D. Diaz's set looks like an old office with stacks of boxes everywhere, but he has added depth with windows, crooked venetian blinds and old metal file cabinets.
However, he even managed to create a diner with counter and stools off to the side of the main section. The setting is realistically rendered.
Jimmy Johansmeyer's costumes enhance the comedy while defining the characters and Trenton Spears' sound design and Matt Guminski's lighting accent the stage appropriately. This not-to-be-missed comedy is a real pick-me-upper.
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What: "Centennial Casting" - Equity
Where: Seven Angels Theatre, Waterbury
When: Through March 11
How Good: 5 Scale 1 - 5 with 5 a rave
Tickets: $29 - $39
Box office: (203) 757-4676
More Stories About: Waterbury
HERES ANOTHER REVIEW....
BWW Reviews: When the Lie is Cast. Romance Can't Break It in CENTENNIAL CASTING
