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| Marney Austin, Marcia Weinberg, Pamela Fields, and Al Benneian Photo by Mark Gluckman |
Click here for more information on this production that runs through September 17th.
".Ivan Menchell's bittersweet comedy The Cemetery Club may be almost thirty years old, having opened on Broadway in 1990, but its focus on the impact that death has to three recent widows is still meaningful today. Theatre Artists Studio's production features a talented cast who instill plenty of heart within the heartbreak in this play that is actually less about death and more a story about the power of friendship and the need to relish life...the story is a fairly simple one that focuses on three Jewish widows, friends for over twenty years, who meet each month to visit their husbands' graves at the same cemetery. Each of the women is in a different stage of mourning....Menchell's script is filled with gossipy moments and feisty bickering, plus a lot of punch lines that deliver big laughs. ...While it isn't completely perfect, and is a bit repetitive at times, the play has interesting characters who change and grow, with a nice payoff as the more we learn about each character deepens our understanding of them and the rich relationship they have with each other. Marney Austin, Pamela Fields and Marcia Weinberg play Ida, Lucille and Doris, respectively. All three characters are grieving in different ways, with some hiding their true feelings, and all three actresses deliver refined and realistic portrayals of the interesting and nuanced women. ..Al Benneian is warm and charming as Sam...Fields' direction ensures the heart-tugging moments aren't too cloying while the hilarious lines and situations deliver big laughs. While The Cemetery Club may be a little too sitcomish at times, it is a charming tale about life and death, love and forgiveness, and the power of friendship. Theatre Artists Studio's talented cast deliver a production that is full of humor, as well as tender and touching moments, and is ultimately a warm, witty and heartwarming comedy of endurance, emotional strength and hope. " -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
"...How does one hold true to one's lost love? How long the grieving? What comes next? Is letting go and moving on betrayal or liberation? In THE CEMETERY CLUB, Ivan Menchell's 1990 comedy, now playing at Theatre Artists Studio, three widows cope with these mortal riddles. Each makes a choice. Ida (Marney Austin)...is eager (and anxious) to kickstart her life out of idle. Doris (Marcia Weinberg), stoic and staid, reverently maintains fidelity to remembrance of a life past. Lucille (Pamela Fields), on the other hand, is flagrant in her desire to crash the future with fashion and flirtation. The tie that binds the three ~ their shared grief and condition ~ unravels after a chance meeting at the cemetery with Sam the butcher (Al Benneian). ...Menchell's script is intelligent and clever, loaded with clever barbs and sentimental moments that Austin, Weinberg, and Fields deliver with conviction and polish. If the pacing on opening weekend seemed slow, I'm guessing that's because director Fields had to step in at the last moment to fill Lucille's role. That will, I am sure, self-correct as this formidable cast moves forward to share this tale of love and hope. " - Herbert Paine, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)
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