An adaptation of a class comedy to modern times is one of
the hardest things to pull off in America these days, since Americans
like to think we're all the same. Most current
adaptations of this sort (e.g. Clueless)
concern themselves with high school characters, where it's still considered
rational behavior to discriminate based on dorkiness. Bernice
Bobs Her Mullet, Joe Major's adaptation of F. Scott Fitgerald's classic
short story Bernice Bobs her Hair,
not only has petty teenagers in the source material, but goes one better by
taking a page from Jerry Springer and transplanting Bernice from the jazz age to
a modern white trash family to make the class distinction more explicit, and up
the comedic value of the fish-out-of-water story.
In this he succeeds admirably. Bernice
is an adorable piece, with a fantastic cast helping to round things out in this
NYMF production.
The plot is simple, and relatively unchanged from the
Fitzgerald aside from setting; tomboy country girl Bernice (Garrett Long)
leaves her Momma (Ann Morrison) goes to visit her rich relatives the Harveys,
doesn't fit in at a cotillion, is given lessons in deportment and flirting from
her beautiful and calculating cousin Marjorie (Hollie Howard), stuns the gang
at the next cotillion with her forthright country ways and suggestions that she
might cut off her mullet, and captures the heart of Marjorie's beau Warren
(Brandon Wardell), by standing up to the oppressive Christian boor Draycott
(Jeff Hiller). Marjorie wreaks vengeance
by peer-pressuring Bernice into really cutting off her mullet, which makes Warren lose respect for
her. Having gambled and lost, Bernice
returns home after cutting her sleeping cousin's hair. The Fitzgerald ends on that note of
triumphant pettiness, but here Major adds a musical comedy happy ending in
which Bernice returns home to the bosom of her Momma and learns from her adventures
amongst the upper crust, adding a "be true to yourself" moral that is not out
of place.
The play is highly enjoyable, though the rollicking comedy
of the adaptation sometimes sacrifices empathy for the characters. Fortunately the comedy is very funny indeed, so much so that a
terrible pun in the latter half of the play was actually greeted with laughs
(though a Wizard of Oz reference was just tired).
The music is accomplished no matter the style, whether
country waltz ("Momma's Lament"), cotillion foxtrot ("What an Awkward Moment",
which has some absolutely gorgeous harmonies), pop ballad (most of Bernice's
solos) or gospel (the show-stopping "The Gospel According to
Draycott"). The love duet "You of All People" is adorable
and is one of the more beautiful tunes in the piece. "Hate Yourself", Marjorie's makeover song,
manages to be a red-headed cousin to Wicked's
"Popular" (filling precisely the same plot point) without seeming derivative.
And the cast- the brilliant cast. Ann Morrison does double duty as Momma and
Mrs. Harvey, shining in both roles as two disparate housewives (but especially funny as the Nyquil-swigging Mrs. Harvey). Garrett Long is a wonderful Disney-style
waif. Brandon Wardell as Warren is all a
callow Prince Charming should be. Hollie Howard's Marjorie is a deliciously
manipulative beautiful bitch; she's hilarious in her over-the-top
reactions. Marjorie's backstabbing best
friends Roberta and Genevieve are played to wicked-sister perfection by Lauren
Worsham and Katrina Rose Dideriksen (their malicious duet "You Pull it off
Nicely" is a highlight). The
always-delightful Nick Cearley, as Otis, delivers his one-liners with pinpoint
precision- nary a one misses its mark.
And then there's the genius Jeff Hiller who is screamingly funny
as the dour Draycott, as well as the more flamboyant Edwardo (the stylist that
does the titular deed).
