VALDOSTA — Theatre Guild Valdosta continues its season with a second, funny, ensemble comedy with “Dearly Beloved,” which opened this week.
The premise is it’s a wedding day for the daughter of Frankie, who wants the ceremony to be a romantic and dignified affair. That hope is dashed by the down-home catering approach of Frankie’s sister, Twink, the return of five-time divorced sister Honey Raye, and the disappearance of her bride-to-be daughter, while Frankie also worries about a medical concern and what appears to be her two-timing husband.
“Dearly Beloved” is a Southern comedy that is a bit of “Redneck Wedding” with enough charm to make some of the characters seem more like folks we may actually know rather than simply Southern caricatures. “Dearly Beloved” was written by playwrights Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, who also wrote the Southern ensemble comedy “Dearly Departed,” which followed a family through the funeral of its patriarch.
Jim Rinehart, who appeared as the lead in “Oklahoma,” makes the move from performing to directing with “Dearly Beloved.” He lets his cast have fun and keeps the action moving, presenting funny stuff from the first moment even into the curtain call. Though the characters are broad, they develop nuance, with no loss of humor, as the show progresses, becoming more like real people in the second act. Rinehart makes a fine directing debut with this comedy and its talented cast.
The cast is funny and each one is given several situations and lines to shine.
The cast is Sheila Brannick, Leah Queen, Michelle Gaines, Raynae Williams, Grant Brown, Patti Cook, Heather Ward-King, Derek Buchman, Ken Kinard, Phil Jones, Mary Helen Taylor. Gaines, Williams and Cook are fun as the Futrelle Sisters, once close siblings who performed as the gospel group The Sermonettes, but are now at odds with one another; each has a distinct personality and their performances complement each other.
They first built this sisterly rapport playing two sisters and a close friend in the recent “Sordid Lives.”
If you’ve ever been involved with a wedding, especially a family wedding, you will enjoy the humor of this show without all of the headaches of a real wedding.
This review is based on Wednesday night’s full dress-rehearsal performance.
Theatre Guild Valdosta’s “Dearly Beloved” continues at 8 p.m. today; 2:30 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Oct. 18, The Dosta Playhouse, 122 N. Ashley St. Ticket: $12. Reservations, more information: Call 24-STAGE.
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Members of the cast from Theatre Guild Valdosta's 'Dearly Beloved' which opened this week. unknown
Discussion
'Dearly Beloved' funny
A play review
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