The sets are gorgeous, the costumes are gorgeous and frankly, Annette O’Toole is really, really gorgeous, too. Oh, sure, they’ve tried to tone her down, as the acidulous and earthy Mrs. Fisher in George Kelly’s The Show-Off, produced by the Peccadillo Theatre Company, but she’s gorgeous still, and more importantly, she’s game. She proves again and again that she’s up for anything and (gleefully) takes us along for the ride.
The Show-Off, perhaps Kelly’s best-known comedy, is about a brash, disagreeable con man, Aubrey Piper (played with aplomb by Ian Gould), who steals the youngest daughter’s love away from a hardworking Philadelphia family. Aubrey’s ridiculous stories and unbelievable lies contain some surprising reveals later in the play that I won’t give away. It’s a frothy, silly period piece with a lot of heart and some interesting comments regarding the institution of marriage.
Wendy Wasserstein once wrote, “George Kelly's plays are not edgy. They do not confront an audience with...rage...There is nothing politically correct or incorrect about them." However true, the production at St. Clement’s that I witnessed had some edge, rage, and some political incorrectness, as well. As matriarch of the Fisher family, O’Toole is stalwart and strong; the scenes with her children, especially her two daughters, are particularly effective. Mrs. Fisher utters one or two derisive terms throughout the evening, which made us all a bit uncomfortable, but her conventional witticisms are not intended to be taken seriously. O’Toole knows her medium and she allows us to laugh, even in some of the darker moments this conservative family experiences.
As Clara Fisher-Hyland, the disparaging eldest daughter who seems to have married well, Elise Hudson gives a lovely turn. Amy Fisher, Clara’s younger sister, is played by Emma Orelove with glittering rage. As Amy, Emma is obstinate and messy (she leaves her mother’s home disheveled at times) and makes her character’s journey a standout for the evening. Aaron Gaines as Clara’s husband, Frank Hyland, the squeaky clean and solvent business man about town, has a secret or two of his own (perhaps an allusion to George Kelly’s own personal demons). The direction here, by the discerning Dan Wackerman, is right on point. The brief scene alluding to the Hyland’s crumbling marriage is a lovely turn for both Gaines and Hudson; it’s heartbreaking and well done. This is a well-heeled company, an embarrassment of riches, with the wonderful Douglas Rees as Mr. Fisher. (The playwright could have given us more of Mr. Rees’s character: he’s the gravitas of the evening and a longer scene or two between Mr. Fisher and Aubrey Piper would have been a lot of fun for us. Ah well.) With Joe played by Tirosh Schneider, Mr. Gill played by Marvin Bell and Mr. Rogers played by Buzz Roddy, you know you are in good hands. The casting (by Stephanie Klapper) and the work of this fine company was excellent as a whole.
With beautiful sets, costumes, sound design and wigs by Harry Feiner, Barbara A. Bell, Quentin Chiapetta, and Paul Huntley, respectively, The Show-Off has a production team that knows how to show off their inimitable expertise, and it’s really delightful. So, tell a fib or two, a harmless little white lie, steal a little time away from the rest of your busy schedules, and catch The Show-Off at the Theatre at St. Clement’s.
