By John Quinn
Abigail (played by Amy Lauter) and Cheyenne (Carrie Jay Sayer) sympathize as B.J. (Diane Hill) sings "My Ex Husband Gets Married Today". Photo: Melissa Tremblay
It seems like just yesterday that local artists Diane Hill and Barbie Amann Weisserman, fed up with a theater lacking solid roles for women, founded Two Muses Theatre. Yet here they are, opening their fourth season, featuring a new musical with four strong, balanced parts for women.
"At the Bistro Garden" is tres LA. The Los Angeles-based creative team, playwright Deborah Pearl and composer David Kole, are in town to bring the right touch of Beverly Hills to West Bloomfield. Who better to create the story of three women who gather at Table 14 in one of the most famous restaurants in the history of Beverly Hills?
It's 1987, a time of big hair and big shoulder pads (and just before the iconic restaurant's closing). Three 40-something friends regularly gab and gossip at the Bistro Garden, which, as noted in the 2009 obituary of its founder, Kurt Niklas, "catered for decades to a high-powered crowd thick with denizens of the film industry and high society." But their lives are not as smooth as the restaurant's justly famous chocolate souffle.
B.J. Beston (Diane Hill) has been divorced 9 years from a husband who wanted children. The many-times married Cheyenne (Carrie Sayer) knows all about the travails of motherhood. Her rebellious, free spirited daughter, Destiny (AlissaBeth Morton), is, at 19, becoming a carbon copy of her mother. While her domestic life appears tranquil, Abigail Hart (Amy Lauter) is about to be blind-sided by her husband's affair with his secretary. In the ensuing divorce, she loses the house and custody of her boy. The three supply emotional support for each other until unexpected entanglements drive wedges between their relationships.
There's a fine sense of ensemble among the four women; especially notable is the intense interplay between Morton and Sayer, as former wild-child Cheyenne is confronted with her bad parenting in the prickly relationship with Destiny. On the masculine side, John DeMerell acts as both the restaurant's Maitre D and our own MC, commenting on and guiding us through the action. He's ably assisted by Miles Bond and Rusty Daugherty, who play singing and dancing waiters, sales clerks and moving men.
"At the Bistro Garden" is the winner of the 2005 ASCAP Best New Musical award. One might infer that, though it's been thoroughly work shopped, this might represent its first full production. So how did it fair?
Not bad. The music is engaging, but its performance is odd. Musical director Daniel Bachelis is in sight, on a keyboard to our right. But composer David Kole has also provided orchestrations for the larger numbers, which are prerecorded. Although the score has an interior consistency, there is disconnection among the numbers. There is an advantage to having the musical director visible and keeping time; singing to a recording is often a perilous endeavor. Allyson Smith's choreography is attractive, but hampered by the stage furnishings.
At a two hour and 25 minute running time, "At the Bistro Garden" seems a little long. There appears to be no problem in Jules Aaron's direction, but the script could use a brush- up of the second act.
"At the Bistro Garden" is going to have instant appeal to women of a certain age; "been there, done that" is the operative term. But that appeal is not limited; anybody can find a kernel of truth in this study of the human condition. It's a fanciful feather in Two Muses' bonnet as the company continues its mission to provide increasing opportunities for women in theater.
REVIEW:
'At the Bistro Garden'
Two Muses Theatre
at Barnes & Noble Booksellers
6800 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield
8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, 10, 17
8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, 11, 18
2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, 12, 19
2 hours, 25 minutes
Advance tickets: $23 for adults, $18 for students and senior citizens; $2 additional at the door
248-850-9919
http://www.twomusestheatre.org
