By Dale King
In the play, Arsenic and Old Lace, the lead character, Mortimer Brewster, comments on the mental stability of his relatives. “Insanity runs in my family,” he says. “Actually, it gallops.”
The same might be said of the three MaGrath sisters in Crimes of the Heart, the tragicomedy now playing at the Broward Stage Door Theatre. While their cerebral processes may not rise to the level of insanity, they certainly qualify as poster girls for family dysfunction.
Crimes presents a pretty dark balance of pathos, tragedy and humor noir, all decked out with taints of suicide, illness, attempted murder, adultery and plain, old inability to get along.
Playwright Beth Henley, who grew up in Hazlehurst, Miss., sets Crimes of the Hearts in her own hometown in 1974 – five years after Hurricane Camille slammed the area. Remember the hurricane reference. It is a major piece of the show’s plot.
Henley won a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980 for Crimes of the Heart, her debut play, and also copped a Best Adapted Screenplay award for the 1986 film version that starred Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek.
At Broward Stage, three talented actresses portray the skewed sisters whose lives are endless streams of tough luck and trauma. Meredith Bartmon plays Lenny, the eldest of the trio, who has taken on the caregiver role since their mother hanged herself – along with the cat – in the basement. The drama opens with her celebrating her 30th birthday all alone by putting a candle in a cookie and singing “Happy birthday to me.”
Meg, portrayed with particular gusto by Faiza Cherie, is the middle child and Lenny’s polar opposite. The chain-smoking, pill-popping, mini-skirted would-be nightclub singer seems ready for anything, including the inevitable drunken romp with her old flame, Doc (Nicholas Wilder), in his pickup truck. She doesn’t admit until later that she suffered a nervous breakdown during her quest for musical success.
Youngest sister Babe (Ursula Anderman) is the unlikely driving force of the play. Fresh from her own battle with mental illness, she has just shot her abusive husband, a state senator, in the stomach. The only rationale she gives is that she was “havin’ a bad day.” When he threatens via phone from his hospital bed to have her committed, she tries to kill herself – as mom did. But when she sticks her head into the oven of a stove –an electric stove – she draws a few chuckles from an audience wondering if laughter is appropriate.
Babe’s predicament brings the MaGrath sisters back together in the home where Old Granddaddy raised them. But he’s now in the hospital with a life-threatening illness. And the girls must all confront the ghosts of their own past, their shaky futures and the presence of other odd characters: their nosy cousin, Chick (Erin Pittleman), novice attorney Barnette (Samuel Floyd) and Doc, whose prominent limp is a reminder of how Meg swore she loved him, then ran out on him during the hurricane. Because he waited to flee for his own safety, a weakened roof collapsed on his leg.
Crimes basically follows Babe’s steps as she tries desperately to find a way to beat the attempted murder rap. She hires Barnette, a wet-behind-the-ears lawyer with his own grudge against her husband. He promises to acquit her and also get his own brand of vengeance on her spouse, but he comes up with — well, something less.
The Broward cast does an excellent job of keeping the play from sinking into the murkiness of hardship and misery. As Lenny, Bartmon is energetic, despite the character’s own misgivings. She’s able to breathe life into Lenny, who enjoys perhaps the only happy moment in this story.
Anderman shows acting abilities beyond her obvious youth in her multi-faceted depiction of Babe. She could easily allow the character to fall into the pit of craziness, but the actress keeps her portrayal above the pity line.
As Meg, Cherie is a spitfire with a big heart, but also a distracted spirit. She wants to do good, but gives up to her own passions in the process. Cherie’s portrayal shows Meg as being full of love, but with personal whims that often get in the way.
Pittleman is the perfect nosy neighbor who feels she can stick it in the faces of the MaGrath sisters because she’s a relative. Her visits are as welcome as a root canal. The actress is commendable in her depiction.
Floyd’s portrayal of Barnette, the attorney who is more interested in Babe than her court case, is reminiscent of the stuttering defense lawyer in My Cousin Vinny. He’s a comic oasis in this play.
Wilder is decidedly cool in his excellent rendering of Doc. He fashions the character with an ominous limp and growling, simmering voice that demands immediate attention.
The gentle hand of Broadway-trained director Michael Leeds keeps the production on the rails. Set designer (and co-producer with Derelle Bunn) David Torres has created a perfect mid-’70s Southern kitchen with a rotary phone, practical cabinets and lots of Coca-Cola in the fridge.
Crimes of the Heart is playing through Feb. 23 at the Broward Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W. Sample Road, Coral Springs. For tickets, call (954) 344-7765 or visit www.stagedoorfl.org.