Barbra's Wedding

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Barbra's Wedding

Studio C Productions in association with Michelle Appezzato at the 2nd Stage Theatre

Reviewed by Neal Weaver

March 03, 2010

Photo by Jennifer Blevins

When Barbra Streisand married James Brolin, it may have been a joyous occasion for the participants, but it was a trauma and a nuisance for their Malibu neighbors, who found their community overrun by private security guards, limos bearing celebrity guests, would-be gate crashers, and rabid reporters and photographers on land and in helicopters overhead. Daniel Stern focuses his comedy on Jerry and Molly Schiff, Barbra’s fictional next-door neighbors and the only noncelebrities in their neighborhood.

Jerry (Wilson Green) is an out-of-work television actor, who has usually played sidekicks and next-door neighbors. He longs for celebrity, and his favorite possession is a photograph of himself with Robert Redford, taken at somebody’s funeral. He’s furious and resentful that he isn’t famous enough to be invited to the wedding. Wife Molly (Mary Beth Evans) has sensibly decided to ignore the chaos outside and throw her own party for the two of them. She’s busily concocting an adventurous gourmet meal, featuring an elaborate Russian fish-pie called coulibiac. But with press helicopters swooping overhead, their driveway blocked by encroaching vehicles, and Maury Povich broadcasting from their front lawn, the wedding isn’t easy to ignore—particularly when Jerry decides to dress up and crash the party. Tensions mount, till their own marriage is threatened, and unacknowledged fault lines are revealed.

Though Stern is a clever writer, ingeniously mining the situation for all its comic possibilities, the basic conceit is slight, and the piece remains essentially a sitcom. Director John Coppola gives it a slickly stylish production, eliciting deft performances from his actors. Green rings all the changes on Jerry’s envy and his resentment that the media has cast him yet again as the next-door neighbor—or worse still, an extra. Evans’ Molly is the rational member of the team, trying to remain cheerful, retain her common sense (even when her coulibiac proves inedible), and instill sanity in the celebrity-crazed Jerry.

Designer Brent Mason supplies the wonderfully detailed rustic set, while Warren Davis’s sound design keeps us aware of the nuptial madness going on just outside the windows.

Presented by Studio C Productions in association with Michelle Appezzato at the 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Feb. 11–March 7. Thu.–Sat., 8 p.m. (Additional performance Sun., 2 p.m., March 7.) (866) 811-4111. www.barbraswedding.com.