Sinatra Would Be Proud

We are currently living in some crazy times, in all ways.  I think that’s pretty much certain.  But sometimes, we need to see some of the more comic crazy times…it lightens the mood a little and provides some perspective.  Fly Me To The Moon at Hedgerow Theatre did just that.  The whole thing was so crazy, so absolutely absurd, and it was definitely just what I needed.  From the very start, the comedy that this play provided us was absolutely amazing.  And as the show progressed, and things got crazier and crazier, I realized that not only was this just what I needed, it’s just what this little corner of the world needed.

The idea is simple when you think about it.  Two women who are caretakers to elderly people find the man they’re caring for has died.  It was no fault of theirs or anything, but it gets the ball rolling for some insane times.  As the story builds and builds, I laughed more and more.  All of us laughed more and more.  Because the whole thing was just so absolutely insane that you couldn’t not laugh at what was unfolding in front of us.  I definitely didn’t know what to expect with this oddball affair.  I don’t think anyone did, which was fantastic.

Susan McKey and Marcia Saunders are two actors that I have known for a very long time and I have seen perform a million times.  Honestly, I think this was one of the best shows I’ve seen them in, and one of the best performances they’ve done.  They were an absolutely hilarious team, and I loved every second of what they did together.  They just really worked well together, which anyone in the theatre world could tell you doesn’t always happen.  But their chemistry was spectacular, and I loved watching them stumble through what was happening in the story.

I feel like I need to break things down a little more.  What Francis and Loretta go through,  throughout the course of Fly Me To The Moon, would not be funny if it was happening in real life.  Honestly, I think it would be absolutely terrifying.  It’s bad enough finding your charge dead in the bathroom, but as things build from there, you know there’s going to be so much going wrong.  There are so many bad choices that come from there, and we see them all unfold in front of us.  Mistakes were made.  Bad choices were made.  It was so funny.

McKey as Loretta really did it for me.  She was really sort of a sad and impressionable type of character.  Throughout this play, she knew that what Francis was continuing to suggest was wrong.  And she absolutely tried to fight it.  But being that impressionable really made her character and her character’s choices phenomenal.  McKey was absolutely hilarious to watch…I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in a role quite like this, and she absolutely slayed it.  It was so much fun to see her fall deeper and deeper into Francis’s clutches.

And of course, Saunders as Francis, was an equally stunning performance.  She was clearly the leader…she has clearly always been the leader.  I loved seeing her mastermind ideas keep going astray.  There was so much wrong with everything she was doing that I couldn’t help but laugh at it…even if it also made me a little anxious (in a very comedic way!)  I loved how she always seemed to be a step ahead, but there were roadblocks at every turn.  Francis tried her hardest, I will give the character that, but everything got the best of her in the end.

So a crazy show in a crazy time.  There’s so much to say about that.  Sometimes it’s so hard to escape the world that we’re living in.  The world around us is just so difficult to handle, and sometimes difficult to live in.  But that’s exactly why we need theatre that is going to make us laugh.  These experiences, everything we go through on a daily basis, just means we need a little more comedic insanity.  Fly Me To The Moon really gave us just that.  It was a show that really did something to get my mind off of everything else for awhile.

Unfortunately, I got this post up a little too late, and Fly Me To The Moon closes today.  But hopefully this isn’t the end for this wonderful little play that had us laughing, and probably made us all a little anxious…in the best way possible.  I will definitely say now…if you ever get the chance to see this play, definitely take it.  I’m so glad I got the chance to, because it really did so much for me.  The humor was great, the acting was great, and the entire production was just a giant win.  Keep an eye out, because this is a good one.