(From left) Tony Hortert, Holly Amber, Molly Breen and Bryce Damuth played in Dinner with Friends at Out Front on Main last month.
Being a regular patron at Out Front on Main, I am always excited to see what each month will bring. March definitely did not disappoint. I was not familiar with Dinner With Friends when I came to see it, so I had the rare treat of total anticipation and surprise. The only things I knew about it were that it was about divorce, it won a Pulitzer and it was made into a movie with Toni Collette (who is one of my favorite actresses) and that kid from Two and a Half Men.
At the first scene we are introduced to Gabe, Karen and Beth. To avoid confusion, Karen and Gabe are a happily married couple. Beth is their friend whose husband Tom, whom you will later meet, is in Washington D.C. on a business trip. The play begins mid conversation that the trio is having about Karen and Gabe’s recent trip to Italy. Karen and Gabe are going on and on and on about their trip while Beth feigns interest. You can tell there is obviously something else on her mind. Beth finally can’t take anymore, and tearfully reveals that her husband Tom is leaving her and seeing another woman. Gabe and Karen comfort her and feed her cake, like any good friends would do.
We are soon introduced to Beth’s not so better half Tom, who comes in Beth’s room. From the start of this scene you can cut the tension with a knife. The conversation starts off normal: How are the kids?, etc. The scene then comes to a head when Beth tells Tom she told Karen and Gabe about them getting a divorce. Tom then becomes livid and they fight, which leads to sex.
Tom then drives to Karen and Gabe’s house, in a blizzard might I add, where they are enjoying a glass of wine and snuggling on the couch. Karen automatically wants nothing to do with him. Tom wants their support, and Karen isn’t having it. She shuts him down really quick and then storms off into their bedroom leaving Gabe and Tom to talk. Tom tells his side of the story to Gabe over leftovers from the same dinner only hours before.
After intermission we are taken back in time to 12 years prior to the previous events. Gabe and Karen are newlyweds and they are spending their honeymoon at their beach house in Martha’s Vineyard. They are adorable, as any newly married couple is. Tom enters, and they tell him they are going to introduce them to Karen’s friend named Beth. Beth comes in from a leisurely day on the beach, and you can automatically sense an attraction between her and Tom. The scene ends in a kiss between the two. I love the way this is done. It begs you to ask the question: how did these two, who seem so happy upon their first date, become so nasty towards each other?
The acting is absolutely top notch. I found myself thinking back over the play on my drive home. Thank god, these actors were able to make their characters likable; it could be easy to do just the opposite. Molly Breen is fantastic as ever. I have watched her at Out Front every time she has been in a show there. I’ve seen her go from a Mama Rose type go-go dancer in In The Boom Boom Room, to a lonely paranoid drug addicted waitress in Bug, to a Christian Fundamentalist in Five Women Wearing The Same Dress, and she does not disappoint in this show. Holly Amber is a comedienne who I have seen before in Dead Man’s Cell Phone at Out Front On Main. I absolutely adored her in that show. I have also seen her standup, and she is absolutely hilarious. It is her great timing and sharp wit that really save a lot of moments that could be not so funny in this play. But she also holds her own in the play’s more moving scenes. She made me tear up during the patio scene, and that is hard to do. Tony Hortert is someone whom I was not familiar with but he blew me away. He completely owned the role of Gabe. You just want to hug him each time you see him get hurt. I have had the pleasure of seeing Bryce Damuth’s standup comedy before, and I already know he is hilarious. When I found out he was being cast in this, I was excited to see how well he could do. I understand this is his first time doing community theater, and he did an outstanding job. It amazes me how he can go from seemingly normal to full of rage at the drop of a hat.
George W. Manus Jr. never fails to put on a great show. Arguably one of the more “normal” shows he has done in a while, this one shows that he can do everything, and I love to see that in a director. The set design by Ryan Vogel was the technical highlight of the show. I love how he utilized every inch of space. In one swift movement, a couch became a bed. He’d take a couch cover off and it would be a completely different piece of furniture. It is really refreshing to see people like him in theater. He’s smart, resourceful and never confuses the audience member with crazy, elaborate set changes. Ryan Daniel really did a beautiful job with the lighting. I have seen almost everything he has done, and believe me, he earned that BroadwayWorld award.
All in all, Dinner With Friends was a major win for Out Front On Main. For a show that could easily take the wrong turn and turn into Kramer Vs. Kramer Part Two, it never does. It is refreshing to see the story of divorce completely turned on its side when you see it through the friends of the couple who is getting a divorce.
Playing in April
Godspell
Directed by Gary Davis
7 p.m. April 6, 7, 13, 14, 20 and 21; 2 p.m. April 8 and 22; 4 p.m. April 8
The Center for the Arts
110 W. College St.
(615) 904–2787
boroarts.org
Leaving Iowa
Leaving Iowa
Directed by Greg Wilson
7:30 p.m. April 20, 21, 27 and 28; 4:30 p.m. April 22 and 29
Lamplighter’s Theatre Company
14119 Old Nashville Hwy., Smyrna
(615) 852–TIXX
ticketsnashville.com or tickets@lamplighterstheatre.net
Our Miss Brooks
Directed by Wayman Price
April 13–15, 20–22
702 Ewing Ave.
(615) 893–9825
mltarts.com
