By: Jen
I had the pleasure of attending the Saturday 2/27/10 show and the Sunday matinee 2/28/10 shows of Barbra’s Wedding in Los Angeles staring Mary Beth Evans and Wilson Green.
The Saturday night show (2/27/10) was a sold out show. Mary Beth had lots of family and friends in the audience that night to support her and the energy was high. Barbra’s Wedding is about an out of work actor, Jerry (Wilson Green) and his wife, Molly (Mary Beth). They live next door to Barbra Streisand, who is in the midst of getting married. Jerry is distraught as to why he was not invited when, of all people, Ed Begley Jr. was. Molly is more concerned as to why Jerry cares more about being invited to a wedding for people he doesn’t even know over her. The tension mounts as Molly gets more and more frustrated at Jerry over his obsession with going to the wedding. Molly finally has enough and tries to leave, only to be stopped by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ”tank” that is blocking their driveway. In the end, they talk though their issues and come to an understanding. I know a lot of what is mentioned about the play are the comedic parts of it, but it really has a serious undertone to it. Molly (Mary Beth) is on the brink of leaving her husband over his obsession with being famous and wanting to be in the “in” crowd. If it wasn’t for Schwarzenegger’s tank blocking the drive way, she would have left. It’s a look into what can happen to you and your relationships when you let something consume you to the point where you can’t even relate to those around you. In the end, Molly makes Jerry see that he is not defined by who knows him or by whose wedding he is invited to. I found the play to be fun and entertaining and enjoyed some great lines in the show.
Mary Beth hits her comedic cues flawlessly. Most of us who have seen Mary Beth through the years know the “sweet” Mary Beth, and while Molly is the “straight” one in the play, she does get to let her hair down and get dirty. In one hysterical part of the play, Mary Beth let’s Maury Povich have it with many expletives and finger gestures. It was fun to see Mary Beth let loose like that. Even though those types of words are not in her personal vocabulary, she pulls them off very naturally. Such seamless acting shows you how talented she really is. Mary Beth and Wilson have really great chemistry and work well off each other. They are very natural with one another and are believable as a husband and wife who are going through a rough patch in their marriage. Both of them are quick on their feet and improvise as needed with falling props, weird bird statues, and just the overall pitfalls of live theater. In Sunday’s show, “Molly” comes back on stage through the front door and she is ranting about how she is “sick of this house, sick of you…” Mary Beth trips over the bird statue by the door and without missing a beat she says, “and I am sick of this bird…”. Even though it was in the heat of the moment, it made everyone laugh. Mary Beth is a natural at live theater and especially the comedic parts of the play. She weaves funny, serious, and frustrated very effortlessly. Even after the play on Saturday night, when she and Wilson were taking their bows, they are to exit though the front door on the set and they could not get it open to exit the stage. Mary Beth, being quick on her feet, decides to leave through the unseen refrigerator door. I felt lucky that I had the opportunity to see Mary Beth perform live.
Want to see a live clip? Thanks to HybridMom you can watch HERE
Mary Beth has always been one that is very appreciative towards her fans. She took time out after both shows and talked with those who wanted to say hi. She also took time out to take some pictures and ask where everyone was from. Her husband and daughter were there Saturday night and she introduced them to us. They were so appreciative that everyone came out to see the show. We had the opportunity to give her some birthday gifts Saturday night, and the next day she told us how much she enjoyed it all and she was very gracious in expressing her thanks. Mary Beth is a class act all the way, it’s hard not to love her.
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