Review: The Rep's FOREIGNER Resounds with Contagious Laughter and Contemporary Relevance

Written 30 plus years ago in 1985, the late Milwaukee playwright Larry Shue's award winning Foreigner first debuted at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater. After playing Broadway in the 80's, and reprised by numerous theaters across the country on an annual basis, Foreigner returns to the Quadracci Powerhous for the holiday season. Directed by the inimitable Laura Gordon who understands Shue's incomparable blend of humor, relevance and warm heartedness, could re-envision this scenario in a rural Georgia bed and breakfast inn.

At the Georgia inn, a British Sergeant, Froggy, rescues his low spirited and shy friend Charlie for a weekend's stay Here Charlie meets the winsome inn owner, Betty, a conspiring reverend, David Marshall Lee, his fiancé Catherine, her younger brother, Ellard, and a rapscallion homegrown Georgian, Owen. Throw in Catherine and Ellard's recent inheritance, and the invisible white empire on a starry night, and Shue created a hilarious farce, even when seen several times.

To add to this sweet and timely return of Shue's play, favorite Wisconsin actors grace the Powerhouse stage: James Pickering, Linda Stephens, Marcus Truschinski, Cristina Panfilio, and Eric Parks. Returning Brendan Meyer and newcomer Matt Zambrano round out this very special cast, many who have previously worked together and radiate an amazing chemistry under Gordon's direction. Gordon continually hits a pitch perfect note in her comedy, combining the humor and the heart, so each actor comes into their own humanity, fully dimensional, on stage.

In these experienced hands, Shue's comedy resonates with clarity because the masterful Zambrano embodies a Charlie more inhibited and shy rather than a dullard. In the same vein, Meyer creates a warm Ellard who the audience might believe could actually build Betty's brick wall at the inn and find his rightful place working as a mason. Pickering's Froggy is a delight, and Stephens gives Betty that tender twist of intelligent compassion. Creating the frightful Owen, Parks' persona gradually creates the character's ominous aura, while Panfilio shudders as Christine who finds her own strength outside a marriage to the handsome, if duplicitous, David, an impressive Truschinski. Because Gordon develops each character's innate humanity, the play revels in believability and warmth as well as comedy.

Shue's particular brand of humor sends laughter throughout the audience-contagious as the production entertains through the evening-so the entire theater laughs together. An entirely emblematic quality that Shue's Foreigner revisits. People from every walk of life, when joined by a common experience or goal, share that uncommon connection. Laughter unites the audience, just as laughter unites several characters in Shue's play. Shy Charlie comes to understand when surrounded by people who genuinely appreciate his unique qualities that his personality blossoms, as does Ellard's, when people expect the best from him. Perhaps Betty describes this when she says: "Foreigners, when you get to know them, are just regular blokes."

"We are making one another complete and alive," Charlie explains to Froggy, and his quote exemplifies a known fact when people take the time to listen and understand each other, humor and kindness develop. So despite any outside forces, from a family, or community, a nation or the world, "foreigners" may unite to better their overlapping worlds. Shue's story can be remembered at any stage in life, because at one time or another, every person has felt like a "foreigner," an outsider trying to make friends and find their place in a new environment or family.

Shue's hilarious and pertinent play speaks volumes to contemporary society where America's melting pot is transforming to be more diverse and incorporate multiple cultures, each one equally important and appreciated, especially in 2016. Often people, foreigners or local home growns, achieve more than together than perhaps one particular culture or person could achieve on their own.

In Shue's marvelous farce, each character sparks another, proving united we stand, divided we fall. Only through the inn's unity, could these unique personalities make their separate lives more complete and achieve their common goals. The Rep's perfect holiday show underscores the seasonal spirit-- compassion, kindness and unity--to champion the dark forces in the world, in tiny rural Georgia, or as far away as the opposite side of the globe. A sparkling and splendid blend of hilarity and warmth, The Rep's spectacular production bridges all Milwaukee cultures this season by sharing Shue's laughter, once again appreciating his too soon loss, and the timely unity portrayed in his brilliant Foreigner.

The Milwaukee Repertory Theatre presents Larry Shue's Foreigner at the Quadracci Powerhouse in the Patty and Jay Baker Theater Complex through December 18. For information, performance schedule, special events or tickets, please call: 414.224.9490 or www.milwaukeerep.com.

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