Beau Jest at HCT

Hale Centre Theatre likes to ring in the new year with a comedy and, once again, they picked a delightful one!  I interrupted my long winter's nap (it has been hard adjusting back to reality after winter break and I have been in bed by 8:00 most nights this week) to see their production of Beau Jest last night and it is absolutely hysterical! Sarah Goldman's parents want her to marry a nice Jewish boy and, because the man she is dating isn't Jewish, she hires an actor named Bob to pretend to be her boyfriend. There is only one problem. He isn't Jewish, either! With her parents at the door, there is no other choice but to proceed (Bob believes he can handle the "role" because he was once in a touring company of Fiddler on the Roof) and, of course, chaos ensues! I laughed and laughed at all of their antics, particularly when Sarah and Bob embrace and inadvertently hit the radio (several times) causing them to be serenaded by the song "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin over and over again. LizAnne Chapman is suitably overwrought as Sarah and Bryan Dayley is incredibly endearing as Bob and they have great chemistry together but, in my opinion, Ben Parkes, as Sarah's uptight brother Joel, and Todd Michael Thompson, as Sarah's boyfriend Chris, steal the show! Parkes brings a physicality to his role that is just so much fun to watch, especially in a scene involving throw pillows! I laughed out loud, as did everyone around me, in the scene where he tells Sarah to get over it! Thompson's facial expressions (and his double finger gun) are a hoot, especially when he competes with Bob for Sarah's attention! So funny!  I only have two complaints.  First, the scene with the Seder is much too long (in a play that is otherwise filled with lots of snappy dialogue) and I started to lose interest but it is early in the run and I suspect it will tighten up. Second, the set, uncharacteristically, is rather blah and, in my opinion, doesn't really look like an apartment that a young woman living in Chicago would have.  It didn't detract from my enjoyment but I kept wondering if it was the same set from last year's Over the River and Through the Woods. Aside from that, I definitely enjoyed Beau Jest and I highly recommend it for a bit of fun on a long winter's night!  It runs through January 30 and tickets can be purchased here.