Darlings, Last Night It Was All Flora, Fauna, And Footlights!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, you better believe I slept last night in rollers, inspired by last night's LPA Players' reading of Robert Harling's "Steel Magnolias." What a learning experience!!!!! First, hon, I learned that this play has more spine than one might think upon an initial viewing, and second, there is MUCH more to performing it than pouring coffee and laying out the fashion mags, skilled though yours truly is at both.

It was an honor being one of two men to partake of this unique female ensemble. And one of those men, Charlie, did a great rendering of a Southern radio announcer, though I fear after doing similar service in the group's previous presentation of "The Bad Seed," he could be typecast!!!!!!!!!!

I could not get over Amy and Daisy as Clarilee and Ouiser!!!! They were like a vaudeville teams, loves!!!!! And the entire group is gaining with experience at mastering overlapping dialogue. Soon, they will be ready for an Altman soundtrack!!!!!

Then there was Emily. Saddled with the role of Shelby, and she makes something of it. Let me tell you, it takes something to make Shelby interesting; she doesn't even have a death scene!!!! At least Fantine gets "I Dreamed A Dream;" all poor Shelby gets is bridestalk and her "30 minutes of wonderful" speech. But Emily made Shelby a caring character; not once did I gag!!!!!!!!!!

Our Mistress of Ceremonies, Wendy, gave a lovely, nuanced reading of M'Lynn, mother of Shelby, not falling into any of the pitfalls experienced by Sally Field. And thank God the action is kept in the Beauty Shop, and not wheedling all over the place, as in the film.

Making her debut this evening was Tanisha, in the role of Truvy, and I want to tell you, she was a revelation!!!!! With me playing her assistant, Annelle, I swear if we had both gone to the Wilfred Beauty Academy--still seen on subway ads-- we would have only own neighborhood coterie by now. I could have coiffed and frosted all the local doyennes and debutantes, parlaying that into a career on all those trash reality TV shows, especially the ones set in Jersey, which, honey, I know for its trashiness!!!!!!!!!

Tanisha brought an authority and warmth to Truvy that was inspiring. But what can you say about someone who gets stopped on bus corners, by people mistaking her for Audra McDonald???? Though I don't think Tanisha sings like Audra; I think she is more Patti La Belle!!!!!!!!!!!

Which leaves yours truly in the challenging role of Annelle. Girls, I tried my best, but I wanted to go back into the stage space and layer and polish, because there were times when I felt I got Annelle, and others when I did not. She has an incredible arc for a character, and this is one reason why people mistakenly think "Steel Magnolias" is an easy play to perform, and let me tell you it is NOT.

But, girls, we held our own, and I am proud. I mean, "The Bad Seed" was a tough act to follow!!!!!!!!! Now, as we layer ourselves with more clothes with Winter, we have got to layer on more character work with our enhanced acting. Who can guess what that next project will be???????????????

However, our hair will be PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!