Greetings!
Ramona.com - Beverly Ragsdale
"Greetings", a comedy by Tom Dudzick, is now playing at the Scripps Ranch Theatre. It is Christmas Eve and Emily Gorski is busy with getting ready for her son Andy to arrive. Her husband Phil is finishing hanging the Christmas lights and bemoaning the fact that there is so many people not getting into the Christmas spirit. Their son, Mickey is mentally retarded, but is having a great time finishing the decorations on the tree. Andy is bringing home his girlfriend, Randi, to meet the family, though Andy is having second thoughts about this plan. His father is somewhat racist and very Catholic, which may not mix well with Randi, who is an atheist Jew. As it turns out these two families have a slight connection in that Randi's father was a great fan of the Pittsburgh's Pirates, the team that Phil played for.
Does this family resolve their differences and have a very Merry Christmas? You must see the show to find out.
All five of the actors were perfect in the characterization of their roles. Darlene Cleary steps perfectly into the role of Emily, the wife who is busy keeping the peace in the household. She loves her husband and just accepts his complaining about everything. Emily is also deeply devoted to her mentally retarded son, Mickey. Duane Leake is great as the rough and gruff Phil, which hides the softy side of him. He really loves his wife and sons. Bob Himlin was delightfully on target as Andy, the son who loves his family but is willing to go against them to marry someone who is not of the same faith. Bob easily expressed the range of emotions that Andy had as he tried to cope with his parents reactions to Randi. Playing, superbly, the difficult role of Mickey, the retarded son, was Hans Gieseker, who also plays the surprise role of Lucias. Lucias is called in by Mickey to mediate the family's arguments. Lucias uses Mickey's earthly body to act as the messenger. Karin Reed Bamesberger shines as she plays Randi, the atheist Jew, who is very strong in her stance that there can't be possibly be a God. She may change her mind as the events of the evening unfold. Miracles do happen on Christmas.
There are many details that contribute to the success of a play and Jim has incorporated all of them for this play. Jim Caputo deserves kudos for doing a great job as director. He began by selecting a talented cast who studied their character and portrayed them accurately on stage. All of the actors were excellent in using appropriate gestures, emotions and facial expressions throughout the play.
There are very funny lines and scenes in the play. One of scenes is when Phil decides to perform an exorcism on Mickey to rid him of the foreign spirit. Another was when everybody was hugging Mickey, Emily grabs a stool to be tall enough to kiss him.
Jim Caputo was very precise as he planned all details for "Greetings". Jim, the cast and crew all need to take bows for creating an excellent, heartwarming, entertaining show.
"Greetings" will play through December 19 at the Scripps Ranch Theatre, on the Alliant International University, 10455 Pomerado Road, San Diego, CA. Performances are on Friday and Saturday at 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm. Order your tickets by calling the box office at 858-578-7728.
Cuauhtemoc Q. Kish
San Diego Theatre Scene On-Air
GREETINGS
Tom Dudzick's Greetings allows San Diegans to get a jump-start on the holidays. It's a bit of warm fuzziness thrown our way that touches upon faith, belief systems, and fear.
The premise-in-a-nutshell works like this: number one son brings Jewish atheist girl home for a visit to Pittsburgh to meet his Catholic parents and after he announces his pending marriage, strange things begin to happen.
After a slow start the dramedy warmed up the audience and had us all believing in miracles again.
There's a grumpy father played by Duane Leake; he balances his character naturally, playing against that familiar fatherly, cartoon effect. And there's a hard of hearing mother, nicely played by Darlene Cleary who finally airs a long-kept secret so we understand her husband Phil's crotchety nature. Karin Reed Bamesberger plays the girlfriend (Randi) and Bob Himlin plays Andy, the older son. Hans Gieseker pours his ample heart and frame into the role of the retarded, second son, Mickey, who ends up practically stealing the show with what ends up to be a dual role in the same body.
Director Jim Caputo did a fine job with his competent cast although the pacing could be taken up a notch or two.
The technical part of the show included an introductory video of the plane ride from New York to Pittsburgh in which Randi and Andy share their thoughts and fears about the holiday reunion-to-come with Andy's parents. For my part, this scene would have been handled better left in the theatre without celluloid.
Overall, the comedy works, provides comfortable laughs and could help warm up some cold hearts during the Yule season.
So if you're interested in a change of pace from the oft-repeated seasonal favorites, you might want to spend an evening with the Gorski's and take in Greetings at the Scripps Ranch Theatre.
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