Review: DINNER AT HOME BETWEEN DEATHS - Not the Most Delicious Meal

DINNER AT HOME BETWEEN DEATHS/by Andrea Lepcio/ directed by Stuart Ross/Odyssey Theatre/thru May 8, 2016

Indie Chi Productions presents the world premiere of playwright Andrea Lepcio's DINNER AT HOME BETWEEN DEATHS a bit undercooked; with lighting cues missed, the stumbling over lines, and an integral plot incident causing unintentional laughter.

Stuart Ross does smartly direct his committed, obliging cast at a fast clip in this 90-minute black comedy on the downfall of financier Sean Lynch who "Madoffs" his clients' investments.

The show's three actresses all excel in their respective roles. Diane Cary commands as the unwitting high society wife Fiona Lynch. Cary's Fiona's a force of nature who juggles her high-end shopping with arranging for her housekeeper's child's U.S. citizenship, while always finding ways and time to pamper her husband with her still youthful exuberance - even after 37 years of marriage. Andrea Evans enthralls as her charity fundraising sister Kat, forever in a state of befuddlement and constant sisterly buttinski-ing. Amielynn Abellera charms as Lily, Kat's step-daughter and ultimate un-doer of Sean Lynch's schemes. But hard to believe Abellera's Lily as a former addict. Abellera's too healthy looking and savvy sharp and aware to have lost any brain cells to drugs or drink. Lily's mathematical know-how is the reason for Sean Lynch's unraveling.

Unfortunately, Todd Waring gets saddled with the unsympathetic, no-win role of the Madoff stand-in, Sean Lynch. Waring does hit some humanistic notes as he reminisces with his ever loving wife Fiona on their early days back in Ireland. (Nice Irish brogue from both.)

Maybe it's still too soon to be producing a comedy on Madoff, as the laughs were few and far between from the non-responsive audience - except for the laughing at the serious moment when the main character throws another overboard.

Kudos to set designer Evan A. Bartoletti for one of the most successful sets seen in a 99-seat theater. His clean blue-grey walls back a modernistic combination of the Lynch dining room, Sean Lynch's office, their penthouse bathroom, and, most imaginatively, a sailboat deck. A long, expandable-leafed dining table serves as the centerpiece furniture which ingeniously morphs into a bathtub with faucet knobs, and, at other times, the confined deck of Sean Lynch's sailboat (with realistic seagulls and wave sound effects from Cricket S. Myers). An abstract metal sculpture hanging over the dining table doubles as the sailboat's sail while the hutch countertop nearby serves as an expansion of the sailboat deck. Nice!

www.plays411.com/dinner

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