Review: THE HALLELUJAH GIRLS at New Theatre & Restaurant

The Hallelujah Girls’ delivers laughter, friendship and Southern charm

By Alan Portner

New Theatre Restaurant in Overland Park has just opened an extremely entertaining production of a deep-fried southern comedy called “The Hallelujah Girls” featuring the husband-and-wife team of Richard Karn and Tudi Roche.  Audiences will remember Mr. Karn as Al Borland on the long running ABC sitcom “Home Improvement.”  Karn, Roche and the rest of the New Theatre cast, and crew are consistently funny and perform right on point.

If laughter is truly the best medicine, the women of Eden Falls, Georgia, have opened exactly the right kind of health spa.  “The Hallelujah Girls,” is a fast-moving Southern comedy by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten.

The play is an affectionate, fast-moving celebration of friendship, second chances and the realization that life should not be postponed indefinitely. It is not a particularly subtle play, but it is consistently funny—and beneath its broad comedy beats a surprisingly generous heart.

The story centers on Sugar Lee Thompkins (Tudi Roche), a determined middle-aged woman who decides that waiting for life to happen is no longer an acceptable plan. She purchases an abandoned church and sets about transforming it into the Spa-Dee-Dah, a day spa where the women of Eden Falls can exercise, relax and attempt to improve themselves.

Sugar Lee’s plans immediately encounter resistance. Her old boyfriend, Bobby Dwayne (Richard Karn), has returned to town, while her longtime rival, Bunny Sutherland (Jan Rogge), is determined to prevent the spa from succeeding. Add a collection of opinionated friends, romantic complications and a building badly in need of repair, and the result is the theatrical equivalent of a Southern potluck supper: crowded, familiar and filled with things the audience will enjoy.

The play works best when it concentrates on the friendship among its women. Each arrives with her own assortment of disappointments, worries and unrealized dreams. Carlene (Cathy Newman)  has endured a remarkable string of unfortunate marriages. Nita (Teri Adams) is exhausted by family responsibilities. Mavis (Peggy Friesen) dreams of escaping the monotony of her life, while Crystal (Ashley Pankow) greets nearly every occasion with an inappropriate holiday song.

These characters are broadly drawn, and the playwrights never hesitate to reach for an easy punchline. Yet the women gradually become more than comic types. Their teasing masks genuine affection, and their weekly meetings at the spa provide the encouragement each needs to make a change.

Carlene Travis (Cathy Newman) is the character who has sworn-off men.  She has already comically buried three husbands.  She thinks she is a black widow, but of course love finds her again in the person of mailman Porter Padgett (Greg Butell).

Nita Mooney (Teri Adams) is kind of a kind, bubbly, and incredibly optimistic character who can be a little gullible at times. Her thirty-year-old son still lives at home.  She is key to our story because as a city employee she has the ability to slow down or speed up necessary city paperwork needed to resolve the play’s twisty plotline.

Mavis Flower (Peggy Friesen) is the realist of the group.  Mavis is stuck in a dead-end marriage.  The passing of another of the group’s friends has caused Mavis to sit up and take notice that life is not forever.   She is part of the driving force of

Last is Crystal Hart (Ashley Pankow). Crystal seems to have a costume and a parody song for every occasion.  Ashley is aways a hoot in whatever she is cast.  Imagine Crystal as a cross between Goldie Hawn from Laugh-in and Betty White in “The Golden Girls.

Sugar Lee (Tudi Roche) is the engine that drives the comedy and must be played with equal measures of determination and vulnerability. Her conflict with Bunny supplies many of the evening’s biggest laughs, but her tentative reunion with Bobby Dwayne (Richard Karn) gives the story its emotional foundation. Their scenes suggest that romance does not belong exclusively to the young and that old mistakes do not necessarily eliminate the possibility of a new beginning.  Karn and Roche have been together for some forty-two years in real life and play as a couple with history as, well, a couple with a lot of history.

Bunny (Jan Rogge) is the character audiences will love to dislike. She sweeps into the spa armed with gossip, criticism and enough self-confidence to overwhelm everyone in the room. Played too aggressively, she could become tiresome; handled with the proper comic touch, however, she becomes an entertaining force of nature. Rogge mixes the perfect blend of mean and silly so as not to be too over the top villainous.

The humor is unapologetically broad. There are misunderstandings, physical gags, colorful Southern expressions and entrances carefully timed to interrupt conversations at the worst possible moment. Some of the jokes are predictable, and the plot occasionally strains credibility. The script also follows a familiar formula, allowing little doubt that friendship and perseverance will eventually triumph.

But originality is not really the point. “The Hallelujah Girls” understands its audience and gives it precisely what it promises: recognizable characters, good-natured mischief and a reassuring conclusion. The play asks no one to contemplate the darker mysteries of existence. Its concerns are more immediate—loneliness, missed opportunities and the courage required to begin again.

Successful production depends heavily upon ensemble timing. The dialogue must move quickly, with the women interrupting, challenging and supporting one another as longtime friends naturally do. When that rhythm is established, the Spa-Dee-Dah becomes more than a comic setting. It feels like a gathering place where these women have created their own unconventional family.

“The Hallelujah Girls” may not offer profound revelations, but its central message is worth hearing: Life is short, friendship matters and happiness sometimes begins with the decision to stop waiting.

That message, delivered with warmth and a generous helping of Southern humor, makes this lighthearted comedy an agreeable evening in the theater.

Co-Artistic Director Dennis D. Hennessy has made a career out of this type of professionally presented outrageous fun, stocked with one liners for an engaging evening at the theater.  With a properly cast group of actors cast, Dennis is a can’t miss director.  And each character of this group has the comic timing required down pat. 

Sitting in the middle of the auditorium, it is very obvious that audience members have a wide smiles on their faces and a determination see what is next at New Theatre & Restaurant.

With professional set design by Scott Heineman, lighting by Paul D. Miller and sound design by Roger Stoddard, the usually sold-out audience of about six hundred ten gets their money’s worth in a fully tricked out version of a classic Las Vegas showroom.

And remember this is the nation’s most successful dinner theater.  From executive chef Scott Heigele, there are always multiple main courses, a full bar, and a selection of desserts served at intermission.  Table service at New Theatre Restaurant is always impeccable.

“The Hallelujah Girls” continues at New Theater Restaurant through November 15.  Tickets are available online at www.newtheatre.com or by telephone at 913.649.7469.

Photos by Justin Parish    

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