Robert Harling’s 1987 dramady “Metal Magnolias” is supposed to tug each laughter and melancholy from an viewers. Ever because it was tailored into a movie in 1988, the play been a favourite for neighborhood theaters to provide.
In some methods, director Lee Ann Payne captures that essence in Los Altos Stage Firm’s present manufacturing, however there are additionally some issues that really feel off. Amongst them are Sharon Peng’s costumes. Harling’s script requires bride-to-be Shelby (a sympathetic Michelle Skinner) to put on pink.
“It’s my shade,” she says a number of occasions, and he or she even wears pink eye make-up to show it. But from the viewers it seems that a lot of Shelby’s garments are peach quite than pink.
Truvy’s Magnificence Spot is the middle of city for the women of Chinquapin, a fictional northwestern Louisiana parish. Truvy’s is a spot to for them to each nurture friendships and vent about conflicts in their very own lives.
Truvy’s first-act costume additionally appears fallacious. Truvy (a finely etched efficiency by Cindy Weisberg) enjoys gaudy garments, however she’s additionally happy with her determine. But her Act 1 outfit is such a mismatched mixture of flowing blues and purples that not even a flower little one could be caught lifeless carrying it.
Clairee (Christine Wait) is the mayor’s widow, however Peng attire her in a brilliant turquoise jacket and purple shirt, a peculiar mixture not befitting of her standing locally.
Scenic designer Seafus Smith has created a pretty however expansive magnificence store. When one forged member sits on a sofa on the best facet of the stage and the individual she’s speaking with sits on the manicure station on the far left, audiences might really feel as in the event that they’re watching a tennis match.
The forged of six all does a nice job of creating their roles plausible, though Amanda Nguyen as Annelle, an 18-year-old who's new on the town, is a little bit of an enigma. In Act 1, she appears frightened and determined for a job, which Truvy offers her. By Act 2, Annelle has change into a born-again Christian, and Nguyen expresses this variation by performing stiffly.
Patricia Tyler, because the cantankerous Ouiser, doesn’t make an look till the tip of Act 1. Carrying an informal shirt and denims, she saunters in and instantly begins complaining. Tyler does crabbiness effectively, and he or she and Clairee get right into a heated alternate within the second act that‘s enjoyable to observe.
The play takes place over three years, and whereas it offers with some harsh realities, humor usually comes by, as when Shelby describes her two favourite shades of nail polish: “Blush and bashful – each shades of pink.”
“Metal Magnolia” runs by June 12 at Bus Barn Theater in Los Altos. Tickets are $32 -$40 at www.losaltosstage.org or 650-941-0551.
All COVID protocols are being adopted, and masks are required contained in the theater.