"Becky's New Car"

Last night, Joey and I went to see "Becky's New Car" at Angelo Civic Theatre.  For my close friends, you know that I have suffered a great deal of heartbreak over the past year with the changes that are taking place at ACT.  However, "Becky's New Car" is directed by a wonderful, smart, beautiful and talented lady that I admire a great deal.  Becky is played by another wonderful, smart, beautiful and talented lady that I also admire.  In addition to those two lovely ladies, I know two other actors who I have worked with in the Children's Theatre who are growing older as most children do and are moving into the world of Adult Theatre.  I have worked or socially know two of the other actors in the play, which means that there was only one person on stage last night that I did not know.  To sweeten the deal, I won two free tickets.  Which is good because as much as I love the people in the cast, I just couldn't justify $17 for a ticket at this time.

I was blown away by the performance last night.  Director Nancy McCollum took a play that I would guess was written for a black box theatre and developed a masterpiece in that old little theatre.  The beginning of the play has Becky (Pagan Jackson) breaking the fourth wall and talking to the audience like we are in her living room with her.  Slipping back and forth between the magic of private stage conversations and glimpses into her thoughts I found myself mesmerized.  Becky's son Chris, a 26 year old man-child still living in his parents basement and studying philosophy, was portrayed by Joseph Plachno.  Joseph took a character that could have easily been shallow and unlikable and instead gave Chris depth and a very likable quality.  Bill Reynolds was cast as Walter Flood, and there are not enough words to describe this veteran actor of ACT.  He has a face that is so expressive and a voice so wonderful that I could have sat and watched him for another 2 hours.  Pat Moore (the one cast member that I don't know) was wonderful as Joe Foster (Becky's husband).  He also gave a great deal of charisma to his character and made penguin pjs look very manly!  Rounding out the cast was Chloe Husted as Kenny Flood, Charlie (shame on me for not remembering his last name because I worked with him in Mister Roberts and he is a joy to watch perform), and Carla Odum, in a duel role as Mrs. Tipton and socialite.

In addition to the actors being tremendous to watch and the story having the exact perfect match of comedy, drama, suspense, and reality, the set was amazing.  Different types of doors suspended at different levels in front of a scrim made an almost ethereal quality which was a good counter point to Becky's mundane life and then a perfect backdrop for the utopia of Walter's lake house.  The lighting was perfect, the sound was perfect and Paula Plachno who was serving as Stage Manager, called a perfect show.

All I can say is that I am so glad I had the opportunity to see the show last night.  For a little over two hours I was not only transported into a entertaining journey with Becky, but I was transported back to a time when being in that theatre was magical.  Having seen it once, I could now easily justify the $17 it would cost to buy another ticket.