Alfred Uhry's 1997 Tony-winning play, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, lives up to its reputation in the new production by Contemporary Theater of Dallas. The play was originally commissioned for the cultural Olympiad of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and had its world premiere at the Alliance Theater.
Ballyhoo is set in 1939 Atlanta on the eve of the world premiere of "Gone With The Wind." This was an era of rampant anti-Semitism, and Jews were barred from membership in Atlanta's prestigious Venetian Club. The city's elite German Jews countered with their own social occasion, Ballyhoo, held during the Christmas holidays when college students were home for vacation. This extravaganza attracted members of The Temple, the primarily Jewish Standard Club, and residents of the Jewish society circuit throughout the South. Ballyhoo was a two-day round of non-stop parties culminating in a formal dance at the Standard Club. It was the penultimate social event of the season for the cream of Southern Jewish Society.
The play relates the story of the Freitag and Levy families. This extended family is headed by Adolph Freitag (Randy Pearlman), successful owner of Dixie Bedding Corporation. He shares and supports a household comprising his widowed sister, Boo Levy (Sue Loncar), her angst-ridden daughter, Lala (Ginger Goldman), his widowed sister-in-law, Reba Freitag (Cindee Mayfield), and her daughter, Sunny (Jennifer Pasion), a student at Wellesley, who is home for the Christmas holidays.
As the play opens, Lala sings a boisterious version of "Noel" and adds a star as the finishing touch to a large, brightly festooned Christmas tree in the living room. Boo enters horrified to see this 'blasphemy' and insists Lala take it down this minute because, "Jewish Christmas trees don't have stars!" You just know from this auspicious opening that you are in for a theatrical treat.
The focus is on the young women as they prepare for the final Ballyhoo ball. It is two weeks before the ball, and Lala still does not have a date; Boo is obsessed with making sure Lala goes to the ball. Sunny doesn't have a date either and couldn't care less, and her mother applauds her sensible attitude.
The underlying theme of the play is internal anti-Semitism, as we get an inside glimpse into the superior attitude of the German Jews toward "the other kind" -- ie. the Russian and Eastern European Jews "east of the Elbe."
Uhry's dialogue is brilliant and witty. Sue Loncar is a blustery Boo in a role that suits her talents and demeanor, especially when she reins in her dominant tendencies and just lets things happen.
Goldman is perfectly cast as Lala, the type of neurotic daughter you would expect Boo to have. She has a delightful sense of comic timing and milks every laugh line for optimum effect.
Pearlman is excellent as avuncular Adolph, every bit as good as Terry Beaver in the role on Broadway. Pearlman does miss playing his final line in the show for the laugh it usually gets by giving it an interpretation of annoyance instead of the mocking tone necessary to get the laugh.
Ironically, the brightest star on stage plays the character with the dimmest bulb, Reba Freitag. Cindee Mayfield is even better than her Broadway counterpart, Celia Weston. Mayfield goes for understatement, and the opening night audience laughed at every one of her lines.
Wesley Bourland makes the most of his brief appearance as Peachy Weil, Lala's date for Ballyhoo and a member of the prominent "Weils of Louisiana." He's impish and quirky and receives every one of his intended laughs. Though still a senior in college, Bourland clearly has the chops for greater stage successes.
In the role of Joe Farkas, Andrews W. Cope looks the part, but the minute he opens his mouth you know he's miscast as the young man brought by Adolph from New York to work at Dixie Bedding. Not only does he not sound like a New Yorker, his accent is indistinguishable from the rest of the cast's Southern accents. While he appears sincere in his infatuation with Sunny, his sing-song delivery detracts from his performance.
Jennifer Pasion is believable as Sunny and turns in a finely nuanced performance.
Director Cheryl Denson's vision of the characters' actions takes getting used to, as the pacing is a bit faster than I've seen in prior productions of Ballyhoo, but it works well.
That said, I sense a disconnect between the music and the theme of the play. It's as if the musical director (not listed in the program) just went out and got "some Jewish music," no matter that it's all wrong. It sounds Jewish all right (my ear heard a Klezmer sound as well as Eastern European and Israeli-type music), but it's the kind of music "the other kind" might listen to and not the refined classical music we'd expect to be the choice for the elite Freitag/Levy families.
The sets by Rodney Dobbs are excellent and well-placed for maximum eye appeal.
