Theater Review - "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"

THEATER REVIEW

“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”

Produced by: The BroadHollow Theatre Company: Studio Theatre

Reviewed by: Jeb Ladouceur

No one can say that Tennessee Williams ever left any gut-probing stone unturned when addressing one of his heartrending, autobiographical themes: Unsatisfied desire (“Streetcar…”); Illusory self-imprisonment (“Glass Menagerie”); Excessive pride (“Rose Tattoo”)—all of the Mississippi playwright’s works hammer at unpleasant topics experienced as a youth in his own dysfunctional family.“Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” with its incessant emphasis on Mendacity and Greed, is no exception.

Virtually everyone in this long, classic play directed by Doug Lillie appears to be lying to someone else at some time, or at least hiding their true feelings. And yes, it’s depressing theater—but it’s supposed to be.

Mark T. Cahill (Brick), Frank Dispigno (Big Daddy) and Constance I. Moore (Big Mama)Brick Pollitt, the young alcoholic husband played convincingly by Mark T. Cahill, seems to have had a fling with a former football teammate but he’s not telling. Brick’s frustrated wife Maggie the Cat (Maryellen Molfetta) suspects, but is interested only in grabbing as much inheritance as possible when the play’s star Big Daddy Pollitt dies. The vital father character is assigned to Frank Dispigno who’s a natural born actor if ever there was one. And Brick’s conniving lawyer brother Gooper (Gary Tifeld) wants the whole plantation for himself and his ultra-fertile wife Mae. Lesley Wade fills that prime antagonist’s role superbly.

Constance I. Moore as Big Mama Pollitt epitomizes Southern matriarchal overprotection and denial. Even when cancer-ridden “Big Daddy” tells her (and everyone else) that she’s been a lousy wife, “Big Mama” dismisses the accusation as medically-induced ranting.

And nobody can rant like “Big Daddy” can! Granted, Tennessee Williams has given the self-made millionaire the play’s choicest lines, but they still have to be delivered with authority and in many cases, simpatico. Frank Dispigno filled the bill last weekend in what was the finest character portrayal this commentator has viewed all year. I never thought anyone could top Burl Ives’s 1958 film interpretation of the earthy Mississippi mogul, but Dispigno is better!

Molfetta as “Maggie” performs what is essentially the narrator’s function with workmanlike accuracy in Act 1, and it all proves to be a vital prelude for the beautifully paced dialogue between “Brick” and his father in Act 2. Unlike the wonderfully conceived conclusion of “Glass Menagerie” (Williams’s finest play) “Cat…” limps a bit in the third stanza—but not fatally.

The other three adult actors in the cast are: a doctor, a clergyman, and a butler, nicely done by Patrick Finn, Steven Prendergast and Kevin Knight respectively. Also, the children, John Dobbins, Samantha Hmelovsky, and Hailey Lamacchia, provide welcome breaks in the typical Tennessee Williams pounding; the three Pollitt Kids are unaware of the emotional turmoil involving their elders, and they show it with unbridled exuberance and fine stage presence.

Those who have not yet visited Studio Theatre on South Wellwood Avenue in Lindenhurst are in for a surprise and a treat. The comfortable venue accommodates about 140 patrons. The seats are wide and plush and the legroom is twice that normally found in Long Island theaters. The proximity of the players to the audience at this well air-conditioned second-floor hall adds an intimacy to the proceedings and makes for a truly pleasant theater experience.

Award-winning Smithtown writer Jeb Ladouceur is the author of seven novels. His theater reviews appear in several major L. I. newspapers. In Ladouceur’s next thriller, “The Dealer” due this fall, Israeli extortionists threaten to destroy Hoover Dam demolishing the Las Vegas Strip - if casino operators don’t pay millions.

Comments

[G. Myers]

It would seem to me that anyyone who could not participate in the emotions so well portrayed in this production would be better served sticking to "Evenings with the Kardashians" on TV. - G.M.