Review: KALAMAZOO Sentimentalizes with Youth

This past weekend, The Acting Ensemble, had a brief run of the play, Kalamazoo, by Michelle Kholos Brooks and Kelly Younger. While the plot of the show is relatively simple, the feelings found on stage were not.

Kalamazoo tells the story of Peg and Irv, both widowers, who turn to a dating service to get back in the game. Their hopes are to step outside their comfort zone while simultaneously, hopefully, moving forward from the loss of their loved ones. Encouraged by a new zeal for life and their family members, Kalamazoo follows the trials and tribulations of Peg and Irv falling in love after already living a lifetime.

What is most interesting about this story, and therefore The Acting Ensemble's interpretation of it, is that while the plot is unassuming, there is a vast array of emotions and conflicts found under the surface of the cute, witty banter and utter charm of watching old people fall in love. There is the baffling question of how to move on with your life after having lived decades with a person who is no longer here, the intricacies of starting and navigating a new relationship closer to the end of your life (and already being set in your ways), and the perplexing feeling of finally being able to free to be yourself, even though you've already been an adult and "free" most of your life. These are just a few of the denser topics covered in the show, but don't get me wrong; while it sounds gloomy and heavy, those themes are thickly coated with sweet, youthful teasing, sappy displays of affection and the constantly wonderful juxtaposition of character's in their 70's doing activities that mostly only people in their 20's do, such as over-drinking and one night stands. What is so great about director Leigh Taylor and her actor's interpretation of the script is how well they weaved these darker topics into the light hearted and comical nature of Kalamazoo.

Besides having the immense task of conveying the different shades of tone for the show, the actors also had the challenge of playing sprightly 70-year old's, dabbling in very modern and young settings and situations. I don't just mean the Mexican restaurant where they had fish bowl margaritas or the strip-club where they spent their bachelor/bachelorette parties, but the actual genuine feeling of being young when you aren't. Mary Ann Moran, who played Peg, and Bill Frascella, who played Irv, truly at times, felt young. As a young woman myself, it was easy to recognize the giddiness of new love that most of the time is only attributed to being a certain age. Moran and Frascella embodied perfectly, what felt like, adolescent and young adult nerves, love, insecurities, and much more. They were personable, intimate, and desperate, in a youthful manner, for their new-found life.

Kalamazoo is full of laughter and poignant moments as well. It's wonderfully disguised thoughtful piece. It will leave you thinking about all the heavier aspects of life, age, and love but it will also leave you feeling hopeful, happy, and wonderfully sentimental. A truly great show, with a wonderful pay off, Kalamazoo at The Acting Ensemble was a true delight to watch. If you get the chance, try to see Kalamazoo anywhere else you get the opportunity. Just hope they put the same amount of love into it as The Acting Ensemble did - you'll walk away feeling much happier and hopeful for the future. With any luck, the rumblings that the show might be taken "to the road," hopefully turn out to be true!

Photo Credit: Bill Heimann

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