Kong's Night Out

From: "will stackman" profwlll@yahoo.com

Subject: Quicktake - "Kong's Night Out" by Jack Neary

Date: Thurs, May 11, 8:24 AM

Quicktake on KONG'S NIGHT OUT

     After a season of shows with serious social comment of one sort or another, the Lyric and Spiro Veloudos returns to their other speciality--farce with no obvious redeeming social value, except good-natured laughter. Jack Neary's last original play on their stage was "Beyond Belief," giving his bitter sweet comic take on the tribulations of the Church, but in "Kong's Night Out" it's competitive human nature and basic silliness to the fore. The cast couldn't be more suitable.

     To start with, Larry Coen is Myron Segal, the hapless producer of "Foxy Felicia," a frothy new 1933 musical set to open the same night his arch-rival Carl Denham is showing his new attraction, "the eighth wonder of the world." up the street. Myron''s invested his mother Sally's life savings in the show. She's a stripper played by IRNE winner Ellen Coulton. He's also dependent on M.J.J.Cashman's Siegfried Higginbottom, a foreign investor with a yen for Sally. To add to Segal's problems, his niece, Daisy, shows up from Buffalo. She wants to get into show business, has an important letter from his sister which Myron ignores, and is played by Lordan Napoli, making a triumphant return to the Lyric. Then there's Steve Gagliastro as Segal's gun-toting henchman, Willie, who's improving his vocabulary. Willie and Daisy hit it off right away. Segal's wife, an actress named Bertille, played full out by New Rep stalwart Rachel Harker, is secretly carrying on an affair with Denham, played by Redfeather's Timothy Smith. Myron didn't give her the lead in "Foxy Felicia." To complete the confusion, there's BU grad Sarah Abrams as blonde Ann Darrow, the focus of Kong's desire and Gold Dust Orphan Christopher Loftus as Jack, her heroic--but not too bright--fiance.

     Robert M. Russo's art deco set has a back wall of doors with downstage entrances left and right, so the toing and froing gets quite frantic. Kong even puts in a partial appearance. IRNE winner Gail Astrid Buckley as usual has a field day with costumes for the ladies, from Harker's backless wonder and Coulton's velvet creation to Napoli's girlish get-ups. Neary's been working on this script since 2001 and this world premiere marks its final period of refinement. He's also about to open a new musical "Ring a Ding Ding" at the Firehouse in Newburyport, has a one-act in the Theatre Marathon on May 21, and is opening an adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw" at Smith College's New Century Theatre on June 15th. See 'em all.

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"Kong's Night Out" by Jack Neary, May 5 - June 3

Lyric Stage Co. at Copley YWCA

140 Clarendon, (617) 585-5678
Lyric Stage Co.