By Dale King
The Last Night of Ballyhoo is something of an enigma. Though labeled as a comedy, it isn’t particularly funny.
While its main characters focus exclusively on a popular cotillion, they generally ignore an impending world crisis, as well as discord among their fellow Jews derived simply from where they were born.
Certainly, Ballyhoo, written by Alfred Uhry (who also penned Driving Miss Daisy), has its humorous moments. And certainly, the crowd that packed Auditorium 2 at the Broward Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs a week after the show had opened did not go home disappointed. But this production is also filled with serious lessons about love, family, faith and respect. It can’t be characterized by a single word.
Ballyhoo is set in a well-to-do, predominantly Christian neighborhood in Atlanta in December 1939 — a big year for Hollywood and Hitler. Der Führer has just conquered Poland, and Gone With the Wind is premiering. Adolph Freitag (Larry Kent Bramble), his sister Boo Levy (Miki Edelman), nieces Lala Levy (Greyssan Felipe) and Sunny Freitag (Mary Sansone), and sister-in-law Reba Freitag (Janet Weakley) are doing well, thank you, as Christmas draws near.
The family members living under one roof are pretty far removed from their Jewish roots – literally and figuratively. They have a Christmas tree in the entryway. Only Adolph keeps abreast of Hitler’s movements in the newspaper. Boo still hangs onto a minuscule amount of Jewish heritage. She warns Lala not to top the tree with a star. It’s a sign of the birth of the Messiah.
Uhry based Ballyhoo on his own childhood experiences. The play was commissioned for the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival in Atlanta, so it is well-steeped in Southern hospitality and manners. With the Ballyhoo ball coming up and images of Clark Gable flashing on a screen at the nearby movie house, Lala — a social wannabee and college dropout — is enthralled by both, oblivious to her uncle’s warnings about Hitler’s power grab.
Lala is somewhat childlike and awkward, just the opposite of cousin Sunny, a junior at Wellesley College who is more enthralled by the writings of Eugene V. Debs and Upton Sinclair than a dance or a movie. Enter Joe Farkas (Alex Salup), a Brooklyn Jew who takes a job with Adolph at the Dixie Bedding Co. While visiting his boss, he falls hard for Sunny and even invites her to Ballyhoo. Though she is apathetic about going, she seizes the opportunity to be with Joe as their love begins to grow.
Lala is incensed when Joe doesn’t ask her to Ballyhoo and falls back on Plan B. She contacts Peachy Weil (Stephen Kaiser), a snobby, rich kid known for his obnoxious behavior and outspokenness. He gets a bit goofy, but finally invites her to the big dance.
The Tony Award winner for Best Play in 1997, Ballyhoo pulls together a stellar cast, many of them Broward Stage regulars. As Adolph, Bramble has honed the fatherly/grandfatherly portrayal to the hilt. His presence keeps the stage calm and the action smooth, as he did in such prior plays as Beau Jest and Twilight of the Golds.
As if taking a cue from Bramble, Edelman portrays the motherly role with ease. She seems to be the one who handles the cooking and the house-tidying and the advice-giving. Her character of Boo is a traditional Southerner with staunch pride in her accomplished daughter.
Sansone is a familiar face at Broward Stage, having played characters of distinctive ilks in A Shayna Maidel and The Immigrant. In Ballyhoo, she portrays Sunny as a quiet, introspective young woman, sure, smart and confident of her role in life. Lala comes to life through Felipe’s prowess, who also appeared in The Immigrant, among other shows. Portraying Lala without making the girl seem too spacy is a tough task, but Felipe handles it well.
Weakley plays her character of Reba as a somewhat simple woman, but one who is shrewder than others perceive. Like most of her family, Reba seems oblivious to what it means to be Jewish. As Joe Farkas, Salup is a lightning bolt whose energy is practically palpable. He finds an intellectual match in Sunny and challenges her relatives to reassess their ideas of identity and family. It doesn’t always work.
Peachy, as portrayed by Kaiser, is a whip, perhaps the funniest character in this play. It’s hard to believe anything he says, so he’s likely to have a successful career in politics. Director Hugh M. Murphy gets a lot of mileage out of this well-oiled theatre troupe. The set design, by Stage Door Scenic, is detailed and pastel perfect. Costumes, the work of Peter Lovello, are beautifully crafted.
Uhry’s play is a sincere, well-intentioned look at a not-so-admirable piece of American history. It may not make you laugh, but it will make you think.
The Last Night of Ballyhoo is playing through Dec. 31 at the Broward Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W. Sample Road, Coral Springs. For tickets, call (954) 344-7765 or visit www.stagedoorfl.org.