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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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