Bachelorette @ Profiles Theatre

BACHELORETTE @ Profiles Theatre 

I appreciated the basic premise & progressive approach to the complexities of contemporary friendships. It addressed the danger, pleasure, & power that comes along with being a seemingly-successful & somewhat worldly Cosmo girl. It felt like MEAN GIRLS meets SEX & THE CITY meets a LIFETIME movie. The script was well-structured & legitimately funny, but lacked a level of authenticity that would have made it exceptional. There were several great monologues, but some of the dialogue felt clichéd & contrived. The characters were not the most well-rounded or developed, but they provided enough of a blueprint that the right performers could potentially create missing dynamic. Overall, it is an exciting piece of contemporary theatre that borders on trite at times, but is largely an innovative, energetic, & enjoyable production.

Amanda Powell & Linda Augusta Orr stood out as GENA & KATIE. As the (unknowingly) unwelcome the pair of friends partying in the bridal suite, both actresses created distinct & dynamic characters that complimented each other while providing a realistic sense of history. Hillary Marren played REGAN, the semi-vindictive architect of the evening; her character was one that appeared put-together until the events of the evening cause her façade to crumble. Her role was the most complicated & sub-textually-based; she was adequate but did not conquer all the challenges demanded by the role. Her interpretation tended to largely overly-enunciated & she expressed only a lukewarm sexuality. As BECKY, the bride-to-be & seemingly central character, Rakisha Pollard had very little time to leave an impression but provided a refreshingly different tone & clean character. The men were outnumbered & had minimal stage time. As JEFF, Adam Soule was adequate but lacked a charged presence. I had seen Eric Burgher in A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE & loved his performance. In SPOKANE, his role provided necessary punctuations from the actions unfolding in a hotel room; he provides the same breathe of fresh air in this production as JOE & I would love to see his talents highlighted at Profiles in a leading role.

Movies like BRIDESMAIDS & BAD TEACHER have caused an insurgent emergence in the movie scene of the Raunchy Female Comedy. The trend has erupted so hard & fast that (Gilmore Girl’s alum) Melissa McCarthy earned an Academy Award nomination for BRIDESMAIDS; her name has been splashed all over the Oscar news because of the excitement & novelty that comes along with an under-the-radar sector of talent finally being acknowledged. There have been grumblings about the fact that Kristen Wiig didn’t receive a Best Leading Actress nomination, but she & Annie Mumolo were nominated for Best Screenplay (which is a better acknowledgement of the effort & involvement of her artistic input). The honor of both nominations is representative of some female step forward; I’m not quite sure what we’re stepping towards, but progress is progress. It’s not that I’m all about raunchy humor, but I am all about the female comedienne being honored & acknowledged. So, if this trend is a step in the direction of female-based humor & comediennes becoming more mainstream, I’m all about it

{I think America owes Tina Fey a big thank-you}.

MAD PROPS to Profiles for having the insight to capitalize on this contemporary influence.

The film adaptation of BACHELORETTE premiered this week as part of the Sundance Film Festival's out-of-competition screenings (and is one of the many Raunchy Female Comedies gaining early attention this year). The cast includes Isla Fisher, Kirsten Dunst, & Lizzy Caplan (all of whom I like & can completely envision in their respective roles). Playwright Leslye Headland adapted & directed the screenplay; she credited BRIDESMAIDS for paving the way for her film because

“for 10 years, people were really afraid that there wasn’t an audience for an R-rated female-centric comedy.”