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'Lives'
Goes On: Uptown Players Overcome Disaster By Tom Sime / Excerpted from Dallas Morning News 6/15/2002 ©2002 The movie version of Sordid Lives has weathered critical scorn to become a burgeoning cult favorite...The original stage version is a perennial already... It's a slam-dunk of a comedy, and even the somewhat troubled state of Uptown Players' production, which opened Friday at the Trinity River Arts Center, couldn't dampen the performers' glee over the gag-packed script. As opening-night crises go, however, Uptown had a doozy when actress Robyne Gulledge took ill and was hospitalized shortly before curtain – 15 minutes before, we were told. So director Andi Allen, on book but en pointe, filled in as betrayed and vengeful small-town Texas housewife Noleta Nethercott. Ms. Allen's tearful first scene – no doubt some of the tears were the real thing – set the stage for this wacky comedy...It must be tempting to play it all to the hilt, and most of the actors do. It works; the writing isn't exactly subtle. But Lisa Hassler hits a more powerful note by playing it straight. Her Latrelle's secret weapon is sincerity...Sordid Lives allows for both method and madness. | |
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Subtler
'Sordid' is More Charming
By Perry Stewart / Excerpted from Ft. Worth Star-Telegram 6/16/2002 ©2002 The term "over the top" can be used liberally in discussing almost any production of Sordid Lives. Del Shores' R-rated comedy...And many actors take liberties with the script. How unusual and refreshing to find nuance and near-restraint in a portrayal of the most broadly concocted character in the play. In a new staging of Sordid Lives by Uptown Players, Ted Wold wrenches funny bones and pulls at heartstrings as Brother Boy, a flamboyantly gay transvestite whose family has institutionalized him in hopes of "curing" his homosexuality. The 1997 regional premiere of this play at Fort Worth's Circle Theatre featured TV star Leslie Jordan as Brother Boy...If you joined the Sordid cult after viewing that 1997 production or its 1998 encore, the new Dallas edition is a must-see. It's also a rewarding introduction to the comedy...the play opens with preparations for the funeral of Peggy Ingram...Should Ty, her grandson, fly home for the funeral? Probably not, concludes Ty, who is comfortable being gay in New York but not in Winters. This character's bittersweet monologues are delivered to his psychiatrist (who is you, the playgoer). They provide welcome relief from the general buffoonery and, in this instance, they underscore a deftly shaded portrait by Nye Cooper. Lisa Hassler maintains superb balance along a precarious tightrope as Ty's in-denial mother...Steve Lovett hits the mark in two roles: Odell...and a preacher right out of Greater Tuna. | |
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'Sordid
Lives' by Del Shores, Uptown Players By John Garcia / Excerpted from John Garcia's The Column/TalkinBroadway.com 6/22/2002 ©2002 ...This production needs to be sponsored by Tylenol because when you leave the show, your head is pounding from releasing so much laughter from your body…This past season I have observed some truly outstanding work from some of our women directors within this artistic community...You can now add Andi Allen to this list! This actress/playwright/director has created one of the funniest comedies of the season, hands down!…For this production, Allen could not have cast this any better…Allen also earns commendations for giving a balance to the various forms of comedy that are being presented on stage. Some actors portray their roles with over the top abandonment, and that works perfectly for this production. But she also has other actors that are more natural and organic-and that also works beautifully for this production. So you have two techniques of comedic acting in one production, but they balance each other and give the comedy much more impact…Within this brilliant cast are some hilarious actors…Angela Wilson as "Lavonda", the tramp of this family we meet…"Latrelle Williamson"… the only good one in this wacky family...is played to perfection by Lisa Hassler..Donald McDonald…is a comical riot as the lover who lost his mistress… Steve Lovett has two roles to play with, thus creating two characters that earned their own basket full of laughs…Ted Wold portrays "Earl 'Brother Boy'Ingram…This role can be played over the top, but instead Wold goes for a more natural, organic, and honest approach to the role, resulting in an outright splendid performance…Wold is another comic gem of a performance in this already jeweled crown of comic work by this magnificent cast. Also in the cast delivering excellent performances include Nye Cooper as "Ty Williamson" and Allyn Carrell as "Sissy Hickey"…in this cast of brilliant actors, there was one comic powerhouse performance...Robyne Gulledge! This is the performance that had me crossing my legs because I thought I was going to bust a gut!... Andi Allen and her cast have in their hands one of the funniest productions that I seen this season. I strongly suggest you bring some Tylenol and maybe wear some Depends to this production. Ladies and Gentlemen, the race in all the play categories for the 2002 "THE COLUMN" Theater Awards just got even tougher and tighter!! Lesser 'Tuna': Uptown Players gets down to some mean family bidness in 'Sordid Lives' By Elaine Liner / Excerpted from the Dallas Observer 6/20/2002 ©2002 New Times, Inc. Small-town life gets a brutal but hilarious going-over in 'Sordid Lives'... Sordid Lives is what it is: high-energy low art with a Texas twang...And the 11 actors in the Uptown Players company wring the living daylights out of every line...In the second act, which revolves around Brother Boy's "de-homosexualization therapy" up at the mental institution, it gets too silly. Only the fine performance of Ted Wold as Brother Boy--a linebacker dressed in a delicate chartreuse peignoir and fluffy mules--keeps this section from plunging too far into idiotic slapstick. The rest of the company takes hold of the material and chews it like a $2 steak...But dang, they're funny when they nail it. Angela Wilson displays sharp comic timing as the explosive, beady-eyed LaVonda, whose partner in most scenes is the downtrodden Noleta, played on opening night by director Andi Allen after the sudden preshow illness of the actress cast in the role...Allyn Carrell is a stitch as the nicotine-deprived Sissy...Steve Lovett gets plenty of mileage out of two roles: dumb-as-dirt barfly Odell...and toupee-topped Reverend Barnes... 'Sordid Lives' at the Trinity River Arts Center By Mekado Murphy / Excerpted from Out Magazine Out.com 6/2002 ©2002 As one of the newer companies to be added to the Dallas arts mix, Uptown Players has breathed some gay life into the city's theater scene. And there seems to be no better state than Texas in which to stage Del Shores' festival of craziness, Sordid Lives...and Uptown Players puts forth a nice effort with its production. Standouts include Angela Wilson as the loud, foul mouthed, fast-talking LaVonda. Ted Wold also has some shining moments as institutionalized Tammy Wynette impersonator Brother Boy...The show has a quaint trailer-trash scene design and delivers some great belly laughs... Cheap Fun with a Texas Accent: Sordid Lives' twangy, far-fetched plot bound together by gut-busting comedy By Arnold Wayne Jones / Excerpted from the Dallas Voice 6/21/2002 ©2002 During the Uptown Players’ production of Sordid Lives you are actively aware that...it panders mercilessly, and fuels laughter like that mischievous uncle who tickled you relentlessly against your will. It forces chuckles out of you with its shameless vulgarity. But you do laugh...And director Allen milks Brother Boy’s beefy size by putting him in sheer camisole for one scene, then dressing him like Anita in a bad touring company of West Side Story in the next...If the play is sketchy and calculatedly shocking, it is also hugely entertaining and well-acted by much of the cast — most of whom do not know the meaning of the word restraint. The most accomplished performer is Wilson as LaVonda, who spills out of her denim dress and red-fringe cowgirl jacket as she saunters seductively around the stage. And while most of the men’s parts are underwritten, there as vehicles for Shores to humiliate, Wold’s flittery, breathless performance as Brother Boy adds a sense of balance to the cast...If you are looking for cheap fun, though, there’s no better ticket in town. |
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