Review: Commending Cloud9

There is magic in midtown. Memphis is stagestruck -- moreso than ever, and with a surplus of talent! (Investors call the new vitality and nightlife "gentrification," I call it a renaissance because the arts are thriving all around us.) In one square mile, there are more shows each weekend than an avid theatre goer has time to enjoy. This month, yet another tantalizing choice appeared on the calendar. Cloud9 Theatre Company just closed its inaugural show at the Evergreen Theatre. (I was sorry I couldn't get there opening night.) Based on what I saw, we have another local gem. What fun to live and work in the midst of so much creative energy!

For a debut production, "Marriage to an Older Woman" was a sensible choice. It's a generous one act with four characters, one set, and no fancy costumes or special effects. Premise and dialogue carry the eighty minutes, reminding me, once again, that the heart and soul of theatre is the story: a good script, a skilled director, and a few good actors is all that's needed.

This witty production hit the ground running with a powerful premise: Dashing sixty year-old Carl, (Gordon Ginsberg) and sophisticated seventy-three year-old Babs, (Glenda Mace) return from the cruise where they not only had a shipboard romance, but also impetuously tied the knot. The curtain opens the minute the honeymoon is over and they are landlocked in Cleveland and wall-to-wall in Babs' slightly Bohemian apartment. Returning to their routines, their differences become apparent. If this awakening weren't rude enough, Babs' grown daughter, Freddy (Leslie Lee Lansky) and her bull-in-a-china-closet boyfriend, Howard, (Bob Klyce) stir the pot until the plot thickens . . . deliciously!

To be fair, my interest in this show was personal. I, too, married in an unorthodox manner after a whirlwind romance, and was cast about on the sea of matrimony for a quarter century before toppling into a lifeboat. I wanted to see how Carl and Babs coped with a similar situation. Strange perhaps, but that's why we need art -- It's a mirror, an oracle and a window.

If you follow the arts, but haven't heard of this play, you're not alone. Its been flying under the radar for years. The script, by the late John Fritz, had been circulating among various theatre companies nationwide since its release in 2000. It garnered multiple awards. In 2004 it was produced in Memphis by Playwright's Forum at Theatreworks, Memphis. It won several local and regional awards. Thankfully Glenda Mace decided to bring it back and put it in the skilled hands of director, Ron Gordon. I hope Cloud9 makes more interesting choices like this.

Like the unplanned marriage of Carl and Babs, adding yet another theatre company to the Memphis mosaic may have been impetuous and risky. But like the lovers in the show, I feel feel that this case, joie de vivre, passion and optimism will to beat the odds. BRAVO, Cloud9 Theare Company! I can't wait for your next production!

PHOTOS BY: John Moore

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