by Ron Levitt

Florida Media News

ENV Magazine

There are many reasons to attend the current GableStage theatrical production – terrific direction, topnotch performances, admirable  set and technical showmanship – but most of all, stimulating theatre and quality writing about all-too-real, angry people.

It is ‘reasons to be pretty”  — the highly successful play by Neil LaBute – which is getting one of its first regional openings since it wowed audiences  on Broadway last year. And, this production – directed by visionary artistic chief Joseph Adler — will be around until Nov. 22.

This show by LaBute – a successful screenwriter — is his first play to be staged on Broadway (a Tony nomination) even though he has written a string of notable works including The Shape of Things and Fat Pig which have been seen locally as well as nationwide.   This latest success seems to be the final installment of a trilogy which focuses on our nowadays obsession with physical appearance.

‘reasons to be pretty” centers on a working class foursome who are friends and lovers  who begin the realization they are trapped in dead-end situations.  That may over simplify the intense script, but those who recall seeing productions of LaBute’s other plays produced at GableStage will be astounded on the realism of the script and may even have to admit that they  know people (especially young people) in such situations.

This play pulls no punches with vocabulary.  A wonderful Erin Joy Schmidt opens the show with a blistering attack, filled with four letter words and other expletives that may surprise and make uncomfortable even veteran audiences of LaBute plays. The opening scene is pure fireworks (with Schmidt attacking her boyfriend Greg (Ricky Waugh), at full throttle, with every epithet one might hear in a lifetime. Even a  salty, ill-mannered, sailor friend I recall from my Navy days would blush!

But, it also pulls realistic punches as two friends – played by the brilliant young actors  Waugh and Todd Allen Durkin – finally come to blows   in one of the best fight scenes we’ve seen on local stages.

Meanwhile, Amy Elaine Anderson is a pregnant lady who thinks (and smartly knows) her man is playing around with a hot number from the factory where he works.

This play really grabs your attention.        The language may make you squirm; the characters may make you think; and – as the anger spills out – you may wonder whether it reminds you of anyone you know – not necessarily a blue collar crowd —  but anyone in your living experience.

So, hail to LaBute, This is more intense in anything he has written before  and the superb foursome which bring this play to life at GableStage makes one realize how such anger in individuals and dissatisfaction with their life can spark so many situations.

We would be remiss in not emphasizing how these four characters elicit compassion from a thinking audience.  Everyone wants a better life  — but to visualize how some people are trapped in their situations is a downer in one regard yet uplifting in the fact that they face such reality and try for something better.  LaBute sends a powerful message and queries his audience!

Director Adler once again has a quartet of super actors at his disposal.   Ricky Waugh is a standout. He gets better (if that is possible) in every show he’s in.   Todd Allen Durkin,  mucho award-winning actor, once again shows why he is a South Florida favorite;  Amy Elane Anderson is perfect as a security guard/soon to be a mother who is coming of age with serious questions.  However, Erin Joy Schmidt – who lets loose on her boyfriend when she learns he has described her as “regular” –  is a complete  knockout as Waugh’s girlfriend.  That one could consider Schmidt ‘regular” is questionable but it certainly makes you wonder about the importance of physical beauty.

And, that may be what it’s all about!

A final note on the script and the acting,  When Schmidt’s character lets loose in a crowded restaurant a catalog-full of everything wrong with Greg’s  (Waugh’s) appearance – body parts all included – it is a riveting moment.  It makes for great theatre, no matter how uncomfortable such a scene might be in real life.

Kudos  to Lyle Baskin for the set; Jeff Quinn for the lighting; Matt Corey for the sound and Ellis Tillman for the factory attire of his characters.

Call 305-445-1119.  It could be the hottest ticket in town!