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Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
A Fox on the Fairway
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Golf is not a game. It is a way of life. —the manager of Quail Valley Country Club to his nemesis/opponent the manager.
of Crouching Squirrel Country Club. .—
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Holly Twyford
(Photo credit Scott Suchman) |
There' a lot to laugh about First, the characters. There's Louise (Meg Steedle), a waitress at Quail Valley, who's not as dumb as she looks; Louise's boyfriend and fellow employee at Quail Valley, the socially inept Justin (Aubrey Deeker), who is an exceptionally talented golfer. Then there's Bingham (Jeff McCarthy), manager of Quail Valley and his long-time rival and nemesis Dickie (Andrew Long); Muriel (Valerie Leonard) a lioness of a wife, suitably clothed in animal print costumes. Finally, we have Muriel( Holly Twyford) whose presence at the club has little to do with playing golf . Always dressed in a plunging neckline, she has other games on her mind.
Thanks to John Rando's direction, the sequence of events that couple these characters, splits them apart and reunites them for a grand and very speedy finale, Fox is on the run. Its best moments belong to the always reliable Holly Twyford, as the country club broad who has had a few too many husbands, lovers, drinks, you name it. Her timing both in delivering dialogue and physical hijinks is impeccable. There are many highpoints, my favorite being when she says or rather slurs, "I never could hold my liquor. Two, three. . . bottles and I start to feel it."
Many of the lines are corny but the malapropisms that come out of the mouth of Andrew Long as Dickie, dressed by costume designer Kathleen Geldard in particularly garish and farcical golf garb, are sufficiently nonsensical to prompt a double take if not a laugh. "A bird on the wing is worth two in the air," for instance.
Aubrey Deeker is excellent as the odd duck of a country club neophyte — deadly sincere and sometimes manic. You feel for him when he's down and wonder what he's been smoking when he's up. It's a good performance.
James Kronzer's set has a generic country club feel to it, nothing offensive, just suitably dull. Colin Bills's lighting feigns equally well sunlight and the grey brought on by a heavy rain storm .
Farce being formulaic and absurd is not for everyone but if you are willing to leave all reason and disbelief in the parking lot, then A Fox on the Fairway has much going for it but if you are willing to leave all reason and disbelief in the parking lot, then A Fox on the Fairway has much going for it, most notably its ethos that this is entertainment for entertainment's sake with an upbeat ending that says "stay the course, don't give up."" A quick reprise of the evening's antics is accompanied by our ole friend Cole Porter's highly sophisticated, café society circa 1934 hit "You're the Top" which seems somewhat out of place here but what the hell. Fore!
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A Fox on the Fairway by Ken Ludwig Directed by John Rando Cast Meg Steedle (Louise), Aubrey Deeker (Justin), Jeff McCarthy (Bingham), Andrew Long (Dickie), Holly Twyford (Pamela) and Valerie Leonard (Muriel.) Scenic Design: James Kronzer Costume Design: Kathleen Geldard Lighting: Colin K. Bills Sound: Matt Rowe Running time: 2 hours and ten minutes Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Va. 703-845-0236 From October 12 to November 14, 2010. Review by Susan Davidson, based on October 24, 2010 performance. |
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