The Last Night of Ballyhoo: Opening Night Magic at Bay Street Theater

Alfred Uhry is best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy, which also garnished two Academy Awards when it was later made into a movie. Uhry's Tony Award-winning, two-act dramedy, The Last Night at Ballyhoo, opened at Bay Street Theater July 2 and and runs until July 24.

The Last Night of Ballyhoo deals with bigotry, hypocrisy, social standing, and prejudice which can exist even among people of the same race, creed, and color, and these themes are woven seamlessly throughout the play. For this reason, I believe this play was the perfect way to launch the long 4th of July weekend, a holiday created for Americans to pay homage to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. This sacred document has long been recognized as the quintessential statement of human rights: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

The action begins mid-December 1939, during the Atlanta world premiere of Gone with the Wind, and just two months after Hitler's invasion of Poland, which is generally thought to be the start of World War II, and the beginning of Hitler's master plan to prove the German "Aryan" race was superior to all others; and yet the Freitag family, wealthy, German Jews, who are so well-assimilated that they proudly display a Christmas tree in their parlor, seem oblivious to what’s happening in the larger world. Their biggest worry revolves around the upcoming Ballyhoo, an over-the-top cotillion ball, held at their restrictive country club, one open, for the most part, to only wealthy German Jews, and closed to Eastern European Jews or what they refer to as "the other kind." This intra-ethnic bias shocks, disturbs, and angers one of the central characters, Joe Farkas, masterfully played by Ari Brand (Bad Jews, Diner). Joe Farkas, originally from Brooklyn, is a hardworking, twenty-something, Jewish man of Russian, Polish, and Hungarian descent. Although he acknowledges that he’s experienced prejudice before, he’s totally taken back by the realization that this kind of bias is coming from people of his own religious background.

The other cast stars in this finely-tuned ensemble include: John Hickok (Amelie), giving a strong performance as Adolph Freitag, a chronically exhausted businessman/bachelor in his late 40’s and the patriarch of a household comprised of four bickering women. Boo Levy, played by Ellen Harvey (House of Cards) is Adolph's sister. Ms. Harvey is very convincing in her role as the world-weary widow and stereotypical, doting Jewish mother, who obsessively worries about her ditzy, twenty-year-old daughter, Lala, a college dropout with big dreams of fame and fortune, but who apparently lacks the skills, work ethic, or conviction to make any of these pipe dreams see the light of day. Erin Neufer (Nathan the Wise)as the socially awkward, Lala, brings high energy and a sense of angst to this challenging part. Adolph’s simple-minded, widowed, sister-in-law, Reba Freitag, believably played by Dori Legg (Madame Secretary), and Reba’s daughter, Sunny Freitag, a smart, attractive, sociology major home for the holidays from Wellesley College, try their best to get along with the Levy women, but this isn’t always an easy thing to do. Amanda Kristin Nichols (Moon Over Buffalo) has tremendous stage presence, and her deep, sultry voice makes the audience want to listen to anything and everything Sunny has to say. Daniel Abeles (Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again) is pure perfection as Peachy Weil, the arrogant, almost cartoonish, red-headed suitor who takes Lala to Ballyhoo.

The amazing set, designed by Alexander Dodge, depicts an elegant living room and dining room in a stately Georgia home. Sound design (I loved the sound effect of the roaring train) is by Jane Shaw. The lighting design is by Mike Billings. The incredible set, the sounds, the lights…combined with expert staging, great acting, a well-crafted script, authentic costuming by Lindsay W. Davis, great hair and wigs by Meg Murphy, and some top-notch directing by Will Pomerantz, well… it all adds up to a Broadway equivalent production right here in scenic Sag Harbor.

There are moments of pure magic in this show. All in all, it was a mesmerizing evening of theater.

For ticket info call the Box Office at: 631-725-9509 or visit there web site at: http://www.baystreet.org/

(Photo by LarryStrucker.com)

Cindi Sansone-Braff, The Romance Whisperer, talks to the dead to show you how to live well and love better. She is an award-winning playwright and has a BFA in theatre from the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Grant Me a Higher Love and Why Good People Can’t Leave Bad Relationships. Visit her web site at:www.grantmeahigherlove.com.