Review: The wedding bell blues

Tasha Gordon-Solmon's farce "I Now Pronounce," the St. Louis premiere of which is on view at New Jewish Theatre thorough June 2nd, is a look at the Wedding From Hell.

L-R: Ryan Lawson-Maeski, Will Bonfiglio,
Graham Emmons
Photo by John Gitchoff

The nuptials of Nicole (Jessica Kadish) and Adam (Graham Emmons) get off to a less-than-ideal start as the aged Rabbi (Craig Neuman) collapses and dies during the ceremony. Nicole freaks out and hides in the restroom. Bridesmaid Michelle (Delaney Piggins) gets hopelessly tanked while her fellow bridesmaid Eva (Frankie Ferrari) tries to take charge with unsatisfactory results.

As Adam's doubts multiply, his sarcastic friend Dave (Will Bonfiglio) suggests that he take Dave's rental car and just leave, while his gloomy friend Seth (Ryan Lawson-Maeske) becomes increasingly despondent over the state of his own marriage, which started its downhill slide during the honeymoon. Meanwhile the flower girls (Millie Eidelman, Abby Goldstein, and Lydia Mae Foss) are trying to summon a ghost to dispel the spirit of the departed Rabbi, who they are sure is out to get them.

Frankie Farrari (top), Delaney Piggins
Photo by John Gitchoff

Meanwhile, most of the guests have fled, along with the band. No wonder Michelle is inhaling all those blue drinks Nicole designed to go with the blue dresses, blue tuxes, and blue cake--everybody has the blues.

When I saw the world premiere of "I Now Pronounce" at the Humana Festival back in 2017, I found it consistently hilarious and even a bit touching in spots. Some scenes needed a judicious editor, but it was great fun on the whole.

Seeing the local premiere at New Jewish Theatre this past weekend was a very different experience. The characters seemed more one-dimensional, the comedy less consistent, and the script's weaknesses more obvious. There are still plenty of funny moments, but there are some serious dead zones among them.

Part of the problem, I think, is that the pacing is not as brisk as it could be, an issue that's exacerbated by the many scene changes, some of which involve wheeling bits of scenery on and off David Blake's fairly realistic set. "This piece should feel fluid," writes the author in her preface to the original 2017 script. "Transitions between scenes should be smooth. Actors may move from one scene right into the next. There need not be lights up and down each time."

That doesn't happen in this production, for the most part, and it makes the play (which is performed without intermission) feel longer than its 100-minute run time. The addition of a prolonged dance number-cum-curtain call didn't help matters any.

L-R: Graham Emmons, Jessica Kadish
Photo by John Gitchoff

The cast is mostly a fine one, fortunately. Mr. Emmons has Adam's comic befuddlement down pat, Mr. Bonfiglio is hilariously caustic as Dave, and Mr. Lawson-Maeske is the ideal nebbish as Seth. Ms. Kadish is an expert at the slow burn, Ms. Ferrari's Eva spins hilariously out of control, and Ms. Piggins does a fine job with Michelle's operatic levels of self-deception. Mr. Neuman gets all the laughs out of the Rabbi's opening monolog (although I thought his "old age" voice and body language were a bit overdone), and his return as a different character later in the play was extremely effective.

No, I can't tell you who that character is--spoilers and all that.

The bottom line is that New Jewish Theatre has done a great deal of excellent work over the years, but their presentation of "I Now Pronounce" lacks the polish I have come to expect from them. Performances continue through June 2nd in the Marvin and Harlene Wool Studio Theater at the Jewish Community Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive in Creve Coeur.