Review by anonymous
June 19, 2019 certified reviewerWhat I liked
1) Tommy Fleming’s deft interplay with the audience; and his energy & commitment as ‘Dallas Devereaux’. I didn’t realize the degree of transformation until I didn’t recognize the actor leaving the theater. 2) Elisabeth Hower as ‘Marybeth’—the ‘responsible one’—and her stamp collection. Words fail me. 3) Jason Poston as ‘Colt McCoy’. The physical comedy that went with the drama’s climax was uproarious to watch, and contained the seeds of spiritual deconstruction a worn-out form like ‘mellerdrama’ sorta begs.
What I didn't like
Everybody was good—even if I didn’t mention them. There wasn’t anything bad in the show. My only doubts are about the ‘mellerdrama’ spoof form itself. The story doesn’t really mean anything—and is heading to a foregone conclusion. The characters are stereotypes fulfilling their functions. So, without pizza and beer (lots of beer) being served, what is the audience supposed to care about? I was hoping for a much more severe deconstruction—an utter subversion of my manipulated expectations. Marybeth & her stamps took us there; Colt McCoy getting shot 1,000 times was in the ball park. A stupid brother Ike and even stupider henchman—it was charmingly done, but merely inhabited the first layer of spoof—itself now long a cliche…
My overall impression
Once they get past the exposition setting up the ‘plot’, you are in for three major delights floating on an endless stream of chuckles. I went from benign tolerance of the mechanics of ‘mellerdrama’ to busting my gut three times.
