When barbed wit, well-wrapped in Southern charm, is the order of the day, as in the first act of "Steel Magnolias," the excellent cast rocks. In the second act, however, when it's time to bring forth some tears, predictability reigns and begins to take its toll. Overall, however, Robert Harling's play is worthy entertainment, even worth a journey to Chesterfield Mall, where the new Dramatic License theater company has raised the flag in its own space and claims to be the first professional theater company west of I-270.
Then play, which opened Thursday and will run through Feb. 20, involves six women in a beauty shop in Chinquapin, La. The elder ones are Truvy (Laurie McConnell), owner of the shop and three of her wealthy customers, Clairee (Donna Weinsting), widow of the town's long-time mayor; Ouiser (Sally Eaton), a curmudgeon who has most of the best lines; and M'Linn (Kim Furlow), high society in the small town. Youth is represented by M'Linn's daughter, Shelby (Stephanie Brown), whom we meet on her wedding day; and Annelle (Colleen Backer), who arrives in the shop just before the curtain goes up and is immediately hired as a beautician.
The banter is good, and with Annamaria Pileggi directing smartly and with excellent comic timing, each woman stakes out her space and position. Tech values are good, with Sean Savoie's set and lights effective, though a small-town beauty shop probably would have had dinette chairs rather than the wooden library chairs on stage. The horrendously ugly sofa was a nice touch.
Brown, excellent throughout as Shelby, describes her husband-to-be as knowing only three ways to deal with something new, "Shoot it, stuff it or marry it," and Eaton notes, in a line that has spread far from the off-Broadway theater where the play began, "I've just been in a bad mood for 40 years." She's outstanding, nailing every line to perfection. Furlow is strong, if slightly over-emotional in the late going, and McConnell plays the small-town busy-body who would like to visit Baltimore because" "It's the hair capital of the world," in nice style.
Weinsting is an excellent earth-mother figure, who loves high-school football so much that she becomes the color commentator on the broadcasts of the local high school football team. Backer, the outsider, is an easy mark for Harling's humor, and when religion becomes a driving force in her life, he goes after her even more savagely, to the point that I was a little uncomfortable. Men are the butt of most of the humor, but since we've been dishing it out for eons, we should be able to take it from time to time.
The tone changes radically between acts. Carry lots of handkerchiefs.
At the Dramatic License Theater, Chesterfield Mall, through Feb. 20
–Joe