Stage & Theatre Reviews by Al Bresloff

Theatre & Stage reviews by SalsaChicago.com critic Al Bresloff

"Cold Cold Feet" ( thru August 13)

Tony Fiorentino is one of our new local playwrights who likes to deal with farcical humor. He has some great ideas, but in many cases he may have produced the plays before they were ready. His newest production, �Cold Cold Feet�, dealing with Benny (Jayce Ryan) deciding on the eve of his wedding rehearsal that he is not ready. His brother Carl (Andrew Pond, who makes the most out of some dialog that should never have been put to paper) gets caught up with the situation and an even bigger situation arises when the two strippers who were supposed to have been at the Bachelor party the night before, show up NOW!. Lots of situational comedy themes take place for the 90 minutes plus in what becomes a series of mistaken identities, lies, door slamming and some slapstick that is re-mindful of some of the old plays at Shady Lane Playhouse in Marengo (�Getting Gertie's Garter�, �Up In Mabel�s Room� and �Critic's Choice� come to mind starring Dale Benson).

Directed by June Eubanks, this quickly paced show, could have been just a little quicker. If some of the �mugging� (making faces to the audience to show them something was funny) were dropped and the actors just created true characters instead of caricatures, they wouldn't need to Mug. There are some bright spots in this production to be sure and some good laughs. The strippers (Christine Cummings and Jacquelyn Zook) are fun and have their timing down well and Kate Harris as Benny's mother has a few good lines. Mike O�Brien as Father Murphy has some of the best laughs and he handles his role with just the right touch. In fact, he underplays the role to perfection and the audience �gets� it. Brianna Mann and Erica Bethe round out the cast. Frank Guttilla's set of a Las Vegas Hotel suite works well but the layout of The Theatre Building venue with seats on three sides and two posts on the set do cause for some sight line problems. Ms. Eubanks missed a few of these when she �blocked� some of the scenes.

�Cold Cold Feet�, is a new production and is what I would call a �work in progress�- it needs a little more work if it is going to progress! Mr. Fiorentino has an eye for concept and the idea does make sense for a lot of today's young audiences, but it needs to have a little more meat and be a little less sit-com with some dirty words.

The performance schedule for the production is Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm. Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm. Sundays at 3pm.

�Cold Cold Feet� will run thru August 13th Ticket prices are $25 and are available at the box office located at 1225 W. Belmont Ave., by phone at 773-327-5252, at any Ticketmaster outlet or visit theatrebuildingchicago.org.