Review of ‘Moon Over Buffalo’ at Antrim: Hilarious comedy performed by a brilliant cast

BY MARISSA KRASNY

The Antrim Players of Suffern are finishing off their most recent season with a production of Ken Ludwig’s “Moon Over Buffalo,” directed by Susan Binder, which filled the Antrim theatre with laughter thanks to a brilliant performance by the cast.

Set in 1953, “Moon Over Buffalo” is the hilarious tale of a married couple named Charlotte and George Hay (played by Roy Harry and Doreen DiBenedetto) who used to be famous actors but now are moot and run a theatre in Buffalo, New York. They’re having financial troubles—but more is going awry in the Erlanger theater than just finances. The interpersonal relationships between the theater employees create hilarious conflicts, mainly between George and one of their actresses Eileen (Normajean Pfautsch) and Charlotte and Richard, their lawyer (Brian Allen King). A large source of the comedy came from the interactions between Charlotte’s hard of hearing and disapproving mother Ethel (Mara Karg) and George.

Ethel is disappointed with the current status of her daughter’s career and believes George has dragged her down. George and Charlotte’s relationship is rife with conflict and love that generates hilarity for all watching it. The conflict increases when the Hay’s former actress daughter turned advertiser Rosalind (Taylor Rose Rizzotti) returns to her family to introduce her weatherman fiancé Howard (Allen Pines) despite her family wishing for her to resume her relationship with her ex-boyfriend Paul (Anthony Bragaglia). All of these relationships are occurring while the theatre is performing the plays Private Lives and Cyrano, and when one scandal comes to be known, everything runs off track for the Hay’s and they try to right everything before a famous director comes to see their show.

“Moon Over Buffalo” was exceptionally performed with brilliant acting from the entire cast. They brought this piece of theatre to life and removed any barriers between the audience and the actors, which made the comedy even more effective. The internal scandals and secrets of the Erlanger theatre are very common and not unimaginable to the people watching. They’re relatable and therefore even more hilarious to the people watching the performance.

The whole play takes place in the front room of the Hay’s theater, set design courtesy of David W. Julian. The Antrim Players had an incredibly talented production staff consisting of Lyndsay Borko (Stage Manager), Catherine Brunelle (Costumer/Production Assistant), Penny Buccafuri (Production Assistant), Kim Farewell (Producer), Mary L. Laido (Production Assistant), Genie Munro (Lobby Board), Jesse Onderdonk (Set Construction), Michael Serpe (Fight Director) and Allan Seward (Lighting Design).

The show ran for 90 minutes with an intermission of 15 minutes between Act One and Act Two. The Antrim Playhouse is located at 15 Spook Rock Road in Wesley Hills, New York. To buy tickets, go to www.antrimplayhouse.com. Antrim offers discounts for seniors, students and groups, and the theatre has air conditioning and handicap accessibility. For more information and to reserve tickets, call 845-354-9503.

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