BWW Reviews: LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT I WORE Expresses the Life of Every Woman

Love, Loss, and What I Wore is real. Lorraine Magee beautifully directs the regional premier of this production for Next Stop Theatre Company. It tells the stories of women's lives through their clothes.

In the various scenes we saw rants and raves over purses, boots, prom dresses, and even the first bra shopping trip that still haunts you.

Only one character has a reoccurring storyline (Marilyn Bennett at Gingy). The rest of the ensemble (Vivian Allvin, Tamieka Chavis, Sarah Holt, Shaina Murphy, and Jaclyn Young), faced a challenge. These ladies had a new character in every scene and diffculty likely presented itself for them to mentally switch characters. Nonetheless, each actress did a wonderful job bringing their character's past and present to life. It was amazing to see each new character voice and walk.

There are a couple of scenes that fell flat. Occasionally, I felt like there was a bit of a struggle to create a different character each time. As a result some of the movement and accents felt stiff. But in the rare scene that this occurred, it did not detract from the overall show.

Ultimately, this is an ensemble piece. The best scenes were those in which all of the actresses came together for the "clothesline" scenes. They are vignettes on women harping about various day to day clothing struggles. The scenes were spot on. Who hasn't looked in their closet full of clothes and felt like they had nothing to wear? The actresses' energy and storytelling in these scenes was absolutely phenomenal.

The set was simple (Evan Hoffmann and Joan Lada), as to keep the attention on the story. As it was in the round it was simply a black and white checkered floor with a fluffy pink round sofa at the center. Although, there is always the possibility of not well addressing the audience in an arena style show, the actors dealt with all angles. The staging made the show feel personal, which is just the touch I assume they were going for.

It was just an overall enjoyable show. It was incredibly funny and incredibly touching. It is a play worth seeing that any woman can appreciate and any man who has a sister, wife, girlfriend, or who has ever seen a girl's closet.

Runtime: 90 minutes with a 15 minute intermission.

A number of shows for the remaining performances are sold out, but you can buy tickets and get waitlist information on their website.

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