Review: MOON OVER BUFFALO at Music Theatre of Connecticut
Should be called Loons Over Buffalo
By: Sherry Shameer Cohen Feb. 10, 2025
There is no better time than now for Music Theatre of Connecticut’s production of Moon Over Buffalo. Or maybe playwright Ken Ludwig should have called it Loons Over Buffalo. This slapstick comedy is sidesplittingly funny about a fading stage couple who still dream of fame and fortune but are reduced to performing repertory in slumping venues.
The show opens in the 1950s with George Hay (Rod Brogan), an egotistical bigger than life scenery chewing actor in his 50s, who is rehearsing in a downsized version of Cyrano de Bergerac. His wife, Charlotte (Emmy Award winning Anna Holbrook) is an actress who plays every lead, even if she is a bit past her prime. She also helps run the acting troupe with some help from her hearing-impaired mother, Ethel (Jo Anne Parady). Enter their daughter, Rosalind (Allie Seibold), a former member of their acting troupe who left the zaniness of show business for stability in the advertising field and marriage to a television meteorologist. Her financé, Howard (Ted Gibson), though, is wimpy, annoying, nervous, and excitable. Her ex-boyfriend, Paul (Matt Mancuso) is an actor who still loves Rosalind, but is loyal to the troupe. Richard (Jim Schilling) is the Hays’ lawyer who tries to persuade Charlotte to run off with him. Finally, there is Eileen (Olivia Fenton), a people-pleasing ingenue in the troupe who starts the series of plot twists.
How far can this farce go? Well, there’s an unexpected pregnancy, an AWOL George, a whiskey-laced coffee pot, twice torn trousers, and confusion about which show is going on – Cyrano de Bergerac or Private Lives. As if the pressure of the matinee coming up in 30 minutes isn’t enough, they learn that Frank Capra is coming to see George as a potential replacement for Ronald Colman in an upcoming film.
Ken Ludwig (www.kenludwig.com) brilliantly sets off this roller coaster of a play. Director Clint Hromsco (www.clinthromsco.com, @chromsco) challenged the cast to view Moon Over Buffalo as a tragedy because show business has both its glory and its deep disappointments, but one in which people grow from it. The entire cast gets it and gives their characters that extra depth while keeping all the comedic aspects of the play. Moon Over Buffalo is an exceptionally physical farce and the actors perform at breakneck speed to keep it moving.
Rob Brogan is precisely over the top funny as George and is perfectly paired with Anna Holbrook (www.annaholbrook.com), who is hilarious as his frustrated wife. In one scene, she pulls him by the hair to try to straighten him out. What married woman wouldn’t want to do that to her obstinate husband? Ted Gibson (@teddywex) is likeable as the well-meaning bumbling fiancé. Matt Mancuso (www.mancusomatt.com) is an energetic, charismatic, and engaging Paul, making us wonder why one earth Rosalind would want anyone else as a husband. Jo Anne Parady makes the most of some of the funniest moments as Charlotte’s observant mother with a biting wit. “Oh, my God, I’ve seen more talent at a dog show….That wasn't a matinee, it was a national disaster.” Olivia Fenton (@liv_fenton) is bouncy and ingratiating as Eileen. Music Theatre of Connecticut co-founder Jim Schilling is ideal as the bemused lawyer. Allie Siebold (www.allie-siebold.com, @allieseibz) is both dignified and amusing at the dutiful daughter who gets roped back in to the family business. An ensemble show can be hard to carry off, but every actor is memorable in this production.
Emmy nominee April M. Bartlett’s scenic design is credible and uses the stage to its fullest potential. Barlett got help from her protégé Arielle Silbert (www.ariellejsdesign.com), who is making her post-grad theatrical debut as an assistant scenic designer for the show. RJ Romeo’s lighting complements their set design. Stage manager Abbey Murray is a godsend for a production like this which needs to run at warp speed. Dan O’Driscoll (https://www.safd.org/MemberProfile/Details/31054), a prolific fight and intimacy director deftly directed Brogan and Holbrook through their fencing scene and most of the actors through falls and madcap scenes. Diane Vanderkroef, Music Theatre of Connecticut’s resident Costume Designer, delivered once again with period clothes, along with Peggy De La Cruz’s wig design. By coincidence, these vintage looks are gaining popularity again thanks to YouTube, with channels such as @Retro Frog, @glamordaze, and @msbrittanysarah.
Moon Over Buffalo runs through February 23. Performances are Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are available at www.musictheatreofct.com. The theatre is located at 509 Westport Avenue in Norwalk. There is plenty of free parking.
The show may be insane, but it will bring back your sanity in these difficult days.
BTW, don't go by the unfavorable original review in The New York Times. I saw the show on Broadway and I liked it, but didn't love it then. That production simply was not nearly as good as this one. Partly it's because of this perfect cast, and partly because of the intimate venue of Music Theatre of Connecticut. There isn't a bad seat in the house. Kudos to Executive Artistic Director Kevin Connors and co-founder of Music Theatre of Connecticut and Managing Director Jim Schilling for producing the play with a vigorous new life.
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