Oversize egos, over the top fun from Buffalo

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Connie Canaday Howard, director (left), and Barbara Niederer, costume designer brush up actor Rob Frankel for his role in "Moon Over Buffalo." | Photo courtesy of COD

‘Moon Over
Buffalo’

Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, McAninch Arts Center, College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn

8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays, Jan. 19-Feb. 12

$25-$33, senior and student discounts available

(630) 942-4000 or www.atthemac.org

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Updated: January 20, 2012 9:25AM

It would be an understatement to describe the Hay family as dysfunctional.

We meet husband and wife actors George and Charlotte Hay in Buffalo, New York, where their touring theater company is about to present “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Private Lives” in rotating repertory.

Things aren’t going well for the traveling troupe. To begin with, their ingénue is pregnant, which sets off a chain of events, including several cases of mistaken identity. The arrival of their daughter Rosalind and her fiancé adds to the chaos in Ken Ludwig’s comedy, “Moon Over Buffalo.”

Audience-pleaser

Artistic Director Connie Canaday Howard of Downers Grove directs the show for Buffalo Theatre Ensemble, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary season. Howard noted that the company “had quite a bit of reaction” from audiences when they performed “Noises Off” during their 20th anniversary season. That’s one reason they wanted to schedule another farce for this landmark season. They also selected the show because it offers the opportunity to utilize a number of the company’s ensemble members, including Amelia Barrett and Bryan Burke, both of Glen Ellyn, who star as Charlotte and George.

Married for 35 years, the couple has been able to support themselves as actors except in 1953 — the year in which the play is set. Their acting company includes Charlotte’s nearly-deaf mother, Ethel, with whom George has a cantankerous relationship. Daughter Rosalind was also in the troupe but left in pursuit of a more normal life.

Howard noted that, although “Moon Over Buffalo” is a very funny show about a very wacky family, “At its heart, it is really a love story. It’s a love story about theater but it’s also a love story about a family, in addition to a romantic love story. This is a piece about people who have very large egos and also huge devotion and love for one another. It’s just that sometimes they’re in conflict.”

As if the family doesn’t have enough problems, some outsiders get embroiled in their conflicts, including Richard, Charlotte and George’s lawyer, played by Rob Frankel of Highland Park.

“I’m kind of a rich, arrogant wisecracker of a guy who happens to have a desperate love for Charlotte, and who is trying to whisk her away from George and from all the starving artists type of stuff into a world of luxury,” Frankel said.

Frankel was pleased when he was cast in “Moon Over Buffalo” because he had heard great things about Buffalo Theatre Ensemble. “It was time to do comedy. It’s really my forte,” Frankel said. He particularly enjoys being in this show genre because “I like the sense of urgency that farce demands.”

Split-second timing is essential in farces but split costumes are a no-no. That’s one challenge for costume designer and ensemble member Barbara Niederer of Oak Park. She has to make sure that not only are the costumes period perfect for 1953 but that they are also durable enough to take the wear and tear of the show’s breakneck pace.

Clothes call

“Talk about abusing your clothes,” Niederer said, referring to a series of fights in the show. She said the 20-plus costumes she is creating, “all have to be rough and tough and they all have to take abuse.”

The costume designer noted that they were able to draw from their in-house clothes collection for many of the costumes.

“We are very fortunate in the sense that the community supports the college and donates to us,” Niederer said. “Also our predecessor was a packrat, bless her heart. Sometimes that’s a little trying but at times like this, when it comes to vintage wear, we have things that we can either make patterns from if it’s too fragile or actually use in the show.”

Niederer has designed costumes for the company, on and off, since 1989. For the past four years, she has been costume shop manager for the College of DuPage, creating costumes for school productions, as well as the Buffalo Theatre Ensemble.

The costume designer is rooting for the “Moon Over Buffalo” actors to get standing ovations. “I’m hoping my costumes support what they’re doing,” she said.