OWL & PUSSYCAT Review from Flint Journal
LEADS IN "OWL & THE PUSSYCAT" MAKE ROMANTIC COMEDY A SUCCESS
FLINT JOURNAL REVIEW
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, May 07, 2006
By Cy Leder
Contributing writer
The owl and the pussycat - how could these two ever get along?
That's the focus of "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Bill Manhoff, which opened Friday night at Buckham Alley Theatre.
It's easy to think of the two-character play as another odd couple, although this time it's not a neatnik and a slob. Instead, it's about a budding writer and his neighbor, a prostitute. It's also easy to mix in a play like "Born Yesterday" because Manhoff's play is also about growth and remaking someone through knowledge.
Felix Sherman (Jerry Bradshaw III) is the boy, who works in a bookstore and is, of course, intellectual. When he sees the neighbor girl, Doris Wilgus (Michelle Swarbrick), doing business with men, he notifies her landlord, who evicts her. She descends on Sherman at 2 in the morning, and they argue and analyze each other. They fight, insult each other, admit their lacks of understanding and end up making love.
They quarrel, they make up, they rebuff each other and separate.
They plan suicide together to have a painless and dramatic impact and finally come to an understanding of themselves and their lives.
Bradshaw and Swarbrick do well in the wide range of emotions they show to each other.
Bradshaw makes a capable nerd, stolidly intellectual and uncaring. He becomes angry easily and succeeds in being stuffy and likable at the same time when he needs to be. He plays being baffled well.
Swarbrick plays a delightfully ignorant prostitute who changes and becomes a loving, caring woman. She can rage well, and she makes clear her humanity and her honest needs.
The two carry the romantic comedy on their shoulders successfully, whether they need to be witty or stupid, caring or selfish, considerate or thoughtless.
Much credit goes to director Becky Johns, who has carefully guided the two actors through their turmoils. Give credit also to Jon Wood and Brian Johns for whipping up an effective 1964 apartment, with an old dial telephone in the living room and a desk and manual typewriter in the kitchen.
The play continues at 2:30 p.m. today, 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and May 19-20 and 2:30 p.m. May 14 and 21. Tickets: (810) 239-4477.
FLINT JOURNAL REVIEW
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Sunday, May 07, 2006
By Cy Leder
Contributing writer
The owl and the pussycat - how could these two ever get along?
That's the focus of "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Bill Manhoff, which opened Friday night at Buckham Alley Theatre.
It's easy to think of the two-character play as another odd couple, although this time it's not a neatnik and a slob. Instead, it's about a budding writer and his neighbor, a prostitute. It's also easy to mix in a play like "Born Yesterday" because Manhoff's play is also about growth and remaking someone through knowledge.
Felix Sherman (Jerry Bradshaw III) is the boy, who works in a bookstore and is, of course, intellectual. When he sees the neighbor girl, Doris Wilgus (Michelle Swarbrick), doing business with men, he notifies her landlord, who evicts her. She descends on Sherman at 2 in the morning, and they argue and analyze each other. They fight, insult each other, admit their lacks of understanding and end up making love.
They quarrel, they make up, they rebuff each other and separate.
They plan suicide together to have a painless and dramatic impact and finally come to an understanding of themselves and their lives.
Bradshaw and Swarbrick do well in the wide range of emotions they show to each other.
Bradshaw makes a capable nerd, stolidly intellectual and uncaring. He becomes angry easily and succeeds in being stuffy and likable at the same time when he needs to be. He plays being baffled well.
Swarbrick plays a delightfully ignorant prostitute who changes and becomes a loving, caring woman. She can rage well, and she makes clear her humanity and her honest needs.
The two carry the romantic comedy on their shoulders successfully, whether they need to be witty or stupid, caring or selfish, considerate or thoughtless.
Much credit goes to director Becky Johns, who has carefully guided the two actors through their turmoils. Give credit also to Jon Wood and Brian Johns for whipping up an effective 1964 apartment, with an old dial telephone in the living room and a desk and manual typewriter in the kitchen.
The play continues at 2:30 p.m. today, 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and May 19-20 and 2:30 p.m. May 14 and 21. Tickets: (810) 239-4477.