{"id":24144,"date":"2021-08-31T11:11:20","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T18:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/?p=24144"},"modified":"2021-10-05T10:14:05","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T17:14:05","slug":"mothers-of-the-bride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/mothers-of-the-bride\/","title":{"rendered":"Mothers of the Bride: a review by Victor Cordell"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sandy Sodos as Beth, Francheska Loy as Hannah, Kalyn McKenzie as Liv, Caitlyn Lawrence Papp as Ginny, Kim Seipel as Kristy. \u2013 All photos by Mario Ramirez.<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u201cPlus \u00e7a change, plus c\u2019est la m\u00eame chose\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (French adage: The more things change, the more they remain the same.)\u00a0 Many of the activities and anxieties associated with a bride-to-be\u2019s preparation for her wedding have persisted across cultures and centuries.\u00a0 Through most of history, those special moments have been shared between the fianc\u00e9e and her mother.\u00a0 In many ways, the key decisions are really intended to satisfy the mother rather than the daughter \u2013 a cause of much conflict.<\/p>\n

Starting with the latter 20th<\/sup> century, divorce, remarriage, and nonmarriage have become so prominent that the would-be-bride may have several significant women to share these charged moments with.\u00a0 Or maybe none.\u00a0 Yet those same consternations go on, right down to the decision whether to go through with the wedding.<\/p>\n

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Kim Seipel as Kristy, Francheska Loy as Hannah, Sandy Sodos as Beth.<\/p><\/div>\n

Playwright Meghan Maugeri has plumbed this territory with a well-written play.\u00a0 The bride-to-be has to deal not only with her birth mother and her stepmom, but the groom\u2019s birth mother and step mom insinuate themselves into the scene as well.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of an all-female version of \u201cModern Family\u201d visits the bridal shop to select a dress.\u00a0 Of course, a great deal unrelated to the dress selection is revealed along the way.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Maugeri\u2019s strongest suit is in differentiating the five characters.\u00a0 Francheska Loy is Hannah, the young victim.\u00a0 Despite her success as a young adult, she lacks confidence in her abilities and her decision making.\u00a0 Not true of her tiger birth mother Kristy, played by Kim Seipel.\u00a0 Highly self-indulgent, she is also a realist who knows that her own failures and serial marriages haven\u2019t exactly set a comforting example for Hannah.\u00a0 Meanwhile, stepmom Beth, who is portrayed by Sandy Sodos, exudes optimism informed by her devout Christianity.\u00a0 Kristy and Beth are oil and water, and there is nothing too insubstantial for them to disagree on.\u00a0 Though in fairness, the friction comes mostly from one side, as it is usually the implacable Kristy who tries to douse the effusive Beth.<\/p>\n

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Sandy Sodos as Beth, Kalyn McKenzie as Liv, Caitlin Lawrence Papp as Ginny.<\/p><\/div>\n

Enter Ginny, an unreconstructed hippy and mother of the groom, portrayed by Kaitlin Lawrence Papp.\u00a0 As an arch feminist and iconoclast, she is the biggest misfit in the bridal proceedings, as she never even married the groom\u2019s father and rails against many of the traditions associated with weddings.\u00a0 Finally, there is Kalyn McKenzie\u2019s Liv, the groom\u2019s stepmom who appears without invitation.\u00a0 Her shallow, social-media-obsessed vibe belies her achievement as an accomplished attorney.\u00a0 A trophy wife who is barely older than Hannah, Liv seems more a peer to her rather than a surrogate parent.\u00a0 To validate the casting in a way, the real actors, Francheska and Kalyn, just happen to be engaged!<\/p>\n

The fivesome engage in fairly predictable exchanges, but with some humor along the way.\u00a0 They can be appreciated as representations of women you know and hopefully like.\u00a0 The play is not intended as a profound examination with deep meaning, but as a lighthearted slice of life.\u00a0 It works on that level.<\/p>\n

The most interesting element of critical examination concerns the affects of the players.\u00a0 It is not clear whether the overall tone is driven by the actors themselves or by director Katie Hipol Garcia.\u00a0 Nor is it clear whether their interpretation is in response to pandemic conditions or is how they see the play in any case.\u00a0 So, to mention my specific concern, it is overacting with exaggerated gesticulation and constant high-volume, emotive verbalization.\u00a0 Pear Theatre is a very small house, but the manner of communication used could serve a very large one.\u00a0 And the somewhat unceasing madcap style doesn\u2019t allow for the special bits to stand out.<\/p>\n

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Kalyn McKenzie as Liv, Francheska Loy as Hannah.<\/p><\/div>\n

But are there ever mitigating circumstances!\u00a0 Because cast members have unvaccinated children, extra precautions applied.\u00a0 This is the first play that I have seen since the re-emergence of live theater a couple of months ago in which the cast is fully masked.\u00a0 We all know that much of our facial expression is hidden when wearing masks and that our voices are more muffled, so the desire to compensate is understandable.<\/p>\n

The other aspect of masking the cast is that it is realistic.\u00a0 \u201cMothers of the Bride\u201d is not a historic play from Shakespeare or Tennessee Williams or whomever else.\u00a0 It is a world premiere, debuting in the here and now during the pandemic.\u00a0 Thus, it is a true time capsule.\u00a0 If several women were meeting at a bridal shop in today\u2019s real life, they would be masked.\u00a0 Thus, the realism is compelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cMothers of the Bride\u201d a world premiere written by Meghan Maugeri is produced by Pear Theatre and plays on their stage at 1110 La Avenida; Mountain View, CA, through September 12, 2021.<\/p>\n

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  \u201cPlus \u00e7a change, plus c\u2019est la m\u00eame chose\u201d (French adage: The more things change, the more they remain the same.)\u00a0 Many of the activities and anxieties associated with a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[664],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-victor-cordell"},"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":true,"span_bottom":"