"Steel Magnolias," written by
actor-turned-writer Robert Harling, has been both an award-winning
off-Broadway play and a motion picture starring Sally Field,
Dolly Parton, Shirley MacLaine, Daryl Hannah, Olympia Dukakis
and Julia Roberts. Now it is on stage at the Boerum Hill Arts
Center, directed by Boerum Hill resident Steven Edward Hart.
The production not only remains true to the gutsy spirit and
raucous humor that informs Harling’s dialogue, but also adds
some original touches that make "Steel Magnolias" even
more convincing. This is Hart’s fourth production at the Boerum
Hill Arts Center (last season he directed "The Heiress"
and "The Cherry Orchard") and with it he really comes
into his own.
The play is about six southern ladies who share their joys and
sorrows in the beauty parlor of their small town. The beauty
parlor is actually the enclosed carport of owner Truvy (Katherine
Alt Keener), a woman whose motto is, "There’s no such thing
as natural beauty."
As the play opens, Truvy has just hired a new assistant, Annelle
(Alex McCord), a married woman who, for some as-yet-to-be revealed
reason, boards with the nastiest woman in town. Truvy’s best
friends are Clairee (Coulter Kent), the late mayor’s wife; M’Lynn
(Dandy Stevenson), a mental health worker married to a gun-toting
nut who fires blanks at neighborhood birds; and Ouiser (Nancy
Lindeberg), the twice-married town scold who now pours all her
affection on her dog, Rhett.
Their equilibrium is upset and their friendship tested when M’Lynn’s
sweet but headstrong daughter, Shelby (Kristen Hagen), gets married
and decides to have a baby against her mother and her doctor’s
advice, and despite the fact that she is a diabetic prone to
seizures.
As one might suspect, this is clearly a woman’s play. The beauty
parlor is their living room, and the curlers a deck of cards.
What they lack in power they more than make up for in old-fashioned
good sense. Husbands, sons and brothers never appear onstage,
and when they are discussed, it’s only to show how silly and
ineffectual they really are.
"I should have realized that Louie had problems when his
imaginary friends wouldn’t play with him," Truvy says of
her son.
"He’s a real gentleman. He probably takes the dishes out
of the sink before he pees in it," Ouiser observes about
Shelby’s dad.
But these sharp-tongued, tenderhearted women have no illusions
about themselves either.
"Well you know what I say: If you don’t have anything nice
to say about anybody, come sit by me," Clairee announces.
"I’m not crazy. I’ve just been in a very bad mood for the
past 40 years!" Ouiser admits.
"Time marches on, and sooner or later, you realize it is
marchin’ across your face," Truvy tells her friends.
And perhaps most meaningful, Truvy’s reassurance to Annelle,
"We enjoy being nice to each other. There’s really not much
else to do in this town."
Indeed, Harling’s dialogue is so sparkling and witty all it needs
is talented performers to deliver the lines. Certainly, Hart
has these in his cast of six, three of them Brookynites – Hagen
(Park Slope), McCord (Park Slope) and Kent (Boerum Hill).
From the sexy Keener and her assistant, McCord, the strumpet
who gets religion, to the staid Kent, the dowdy Lindeberg, the
determined Stevenson and Hagen, her defiant daughter, the "prettiest
girl in town" – the actresses explore and fill their roles
so completely and effectively it’s hard not to walk up to them
after the show, give them a hug and ask how their husbands are
doing or if the kids are coming home for Christmas.
Hart has chosen to stage the play in the round, so the audience
is very close to the actors. This increases both the immediacy
and the warmth. Sitting so close that one can smell the hairspray
creates the sensation of actually being in the beauty parlor
and almost being part of the action.
"Steel Magnolias" is like a good southern meal – a
little sweet, a little tart and very satisfying.
"Steel Magnolias" plays through
May 26, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm
at the Boerum Hill Arts Center (Bethlehem Lutheran Church, 490
Pacific St. at Third Avenue). Tickets are $10 adults, $7.50 seniors
and students. For reservations, call (718) 855-9865 or e-mail
bhartscenter@yahoo.com. Tickets are also available at breukelen
(369 Atlantic Ave.), Melting Pot (494 Atlantic Ave.) and Musicians
General Store (213 Court St.).
