Becky’s New Car at The Bay Theatre Company

If you need a change of pace to shake off the humdrum doldrums of your life then Becky’s New Carat the Bay Theatre Company in Annapolis is the way to go. This hilarious tale is buzzing with energy, complex situations, and good feelings that send wave after wave of laughter crashing out over the audience. The story presents us with Becky, a middle-aged housewife who has lost the proverbial wind in her sales. Her mid-twenties college son still lives at home, her romantic life is average, work is a bore. She’s not unhappy she just wants something more. Enter Walter, an eccentric rich widower who inadvertently catches Becky’s eye late one night at the dealership where she works. The story would stop there if Becky hadn’t accidentally let on that her very alive husband was actually dead. And it all rolls downhill in a tumble of laughs and comic moments from there. It provides a brilliant display of genius on stage with great audience participation and interaction; a feel good funny story for the holiday season.

Nigel Reed (Steve) and Janet Luby (Becky). Photo by Stan Barouh.

The setting is displayed on an intimate black box stage and the production team makes great use of splitting the set into two believable locations. Designed by Ken Sheats, the simple stage is transformed into a believable construct that presents a cozy look into Becky’s life. Sheats furnishes the set with detail; the right side of the stage is a quaint living room. There is a couch with clothes strewn over it, the coffee table holds a read newspaper, the walls are adorned with decorative portraits and there are family photos on the mantelpiece. He achieves the effect of having the set appear well lived in and authentic, rather than just some furniture assembled on stage for the sake of the show. The left side is a simple office, done with a similar attention to detail. And the cleverness of the set is revealed when the main character jumps back and forth from one side of the stage to another, going from office to home and back and vice versa, with a simple spotlight rising in the center when she wishes to be present in a different location.

The emotions created by this cast of tight-knit actors are incredible. Director James Gallagher provides sheer genius in his guidance of this cast. There are moments when all seven characters are present on stage and silent, but the energy and tension is so palpable that it sends shivers up your spine. Gallagher has engaged the use of pauses and reflective moments extremely well in this piece and incorporated an excellent use of the stage provided. He creates the illusion of Becky driving in the car simply by placing a chair center stage, tightening the spotlight on her and giving her a steering wheel to hold. Some would think this would come off as contrived or hokey but it is believable and for a moment you actually feel like Becky is really driving instead of just seated on stage.

This team of actors functions like a family; albeit dysfunctional, and provides a wonderful performance for all to watch. With a play laden full of stereotypical almost hackneyed characters this group of talented people breath refreshing creative life into each of their roles. Seven extremely talented actors transform seven ordinary ‘slice of life’ characters into seven dynamic expressive people. There are moments where the characters address the audience, both directly and off-book as well as indirectly when speaking at them with a mindful approach to their presence, and never once does this create an ill sense of breaking the fourth wall. It works extremely well as a tight incorporation into the show and gives it an extra kick of pizzazz.

The minor characters who we see for just brief glimpse still play a major role in this laugh-out-loud production. We’re introduced briefly to Kenni (Elena Crall) who is the daughter of the wealthy widower. Her interactions are brief with other characters but strong. Crall presents as a stand-offish character at first, exuding that air of aristocratic frigidity when she appears on the balcony at her father’s dinner party. But she easily transforms her role into a warm bubbling youth, struck stupid with the passion of love when she encounters Chris. Her sweet smile and wide-eyed expressions scream nubile infatuation in a tactful manner. We also encounter Ginger (Alicia Sweeney) a haughty aristocrat who veils her impending impoverishment with coquettish smiles and fond stares. Sweeney mellows toward the end when she too is confronted with the prospect of love.

We meet the typical college student in Becky’s son, Chris (Davis Chandler Hasty). With a slight flare for the dramatic when being addressed about his potential do ever do anything with his life; Hasty portrays a self-contained student who is constantly attempting to analyze every situation with his psychological learning from college. His physicality reeks of lazy student as he lazes about attempting to study, and he provides hysterical laughter when trying to avoid confrontations with his mother, going so far as to slump in defeat against the wall and bang his head repeatedly. Hasty’s shining moment comes when he’s having a discussion about the new love of his life while performing cardiovascular warm-ups. He completes a full monologue about love, exes, this new girl, and psychology while lunging, thrusting his arms in the air and bouncing around the room like a marathon sprinter. It’s sheer hilarious genius.

And what would a story about an inadvertent mid-life crisis be without the husband? Joe (Jim Reiter) is your typical household husband, not too fussy over the happenings in his house, generally agreeable with the wife and son. Reiter plays a well-invested character and subtly shows his affections through dialogue. His tone is mild and thoughtful and his expressions carry warmth and feeling when he expresses concern toward Becky. Reiter’s mimicry of an impending discussion between he and his wife is brilliant, as he spins back and forth, reciting what she will say and then what he will say, back and forth at a rapid pace. As the play progresses and Joe finds himself in a darker place Reiter’s performance grows with the character and we exhibit a deeper and more conflicted side of this person.

The catalyst for conflict comes in the form of wealthy widower Walter Flood (Jim Chance). Chance displays all the mannerisms of an eccentric tycoon, uncertain as to whether or not a loft would make a good birthday present for his daughter. He is aloof and distant at all the right moments, making the brief encounter when he does explode due to stress all the more poignant. His facial expressions belay everything that his words cannot, giving him away as the hopeless romantic who is still grieving the loss of his late wife and conflicted over whether to move on. With a knack for stoic physicality Chance presents the perfect combination in this very complex character.

The show stealer comes from a side character that isn’t really a part of family storyline, but adds amazing comic relief to this already hilarious tale. Steve (Helen Hayes Award winner Nigel Reed) is a quirky man, rich with dysphoria bordering on manic-depressive. Reed’s spastic outbursts will keep you laughing so hard you start to cry. He presents great accusatory tones and expressions when confronting Becky and gets easily caught up in the exasperating retelling of his wife’s tragic death. Reed radiates emotions from the center of his being when delving into the plight of his existence and his inability to overcome the grief in his life; hopelessly caught up in an intense story involving a puppy over a cliff, and brings a heightened sense of brutal reality to the character. Reed whirls through a plethora of emotions and gesticulations to express his constant turmoil and conflictions creating for a crazy but quirky office co-worker that you can’t get enough of.

Janet Luby as Becky. Photo by Stan Barouh.

And the shining star of the show delivers a stunning performance that completes theplay to perfection. Becky (Janet Luby) is more than meets the eye in her riveting performance of middle-aged boredom. Luby speaks with an intimately familiar voice when addressing the audience, almost as if each member is a personal friend. Her speeches are laced with comic anecdotes that she delivers as if they were stories from her real life. Luby’s interaction with each of the characters is invigorating and unique. When she argues with Chris (Hasty) her motherly tendencies radiate through her fingertips as she paces in exasperation around the living room trying to figure out when he’ll amount to anything. Her awkward defeated moments when lying to her husband Joe (Reiter) are displayed painfully across her face as she tries to conceal her unintentional deceit. Perhaps the best moments of Luby’s performance are when she’s alone center stage, addressing the audience with her problems as they unfold. You see wave after wave of emotion crossing her conflicted conscious as she tells her story. And her facial expressions are priceless. When seated in the car, driving on her first endeavor up to see Walter (Chance), she tunes through the radio stations encountering song after song that are ironically fitted to the situation. As she hears songs like “Stand by Your Man,” “Your Cheating Heart,” and “Highway to Hell” her facial expressions grow more and more wild, her eyes glaring in disbelief at the horrid radio. And the execution of her physicality is amazing. Easily sliding from one location to another back and forth across the stage Luby makes great use of her space and her gestures to denote when she’s home and when she’s away and when she’s driving. But perhaps the most brilliant thing about her performance is the audience interaction. She goes off-script to rouse about with various members of the audience from time to time, even inviting a few of them up on the stage, and it adds to the overall hilarity of the show. Her work is nothing short of a masterpiece.

So if you find yourself yearning for something more, don’t go out and get a new life, come watch Becky do it instead at the Bay Theatre Company’s production of Becky’s New Car. I wouldn’t steer you wrong, but Bay Theatre Company really comes through in the clutch.

Running time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission.

Becky’s New Car runs through January 8, 2012, at The Bay Theatre Company, in the West Garrett Building –  275 West Street, Annapolis, MD. For tickets, please call the box office at (410) 268-1333, or purchase them online.