What was I just saying about having bits of business to do to make yourself noticed in a show? A theater friend & I went to see a Birdie friend of mine in Dearly Departed last night and I saw a perfect example of this. Delightful, a character who is on stage for quite a bit, has all of 2 words to say in the entire show. However. I don't know whether this was in the script or was a product of the director's or performer's imagination, but Delightful was played as slovenly and food-obsessed.
When we first see her, she's sitting very sloppily, stuffing her face w/ Cheese Nips. But not just eating them; at one point she was positioning them under her upper lip to resemble fangs, then making growling, biting and clawing motions. During the funeral scene, she had an ice cream bar to eat and at one point brought the show to a screeching halt while Delightful experienced a prolonged and apparently quite painful brain freeze. At the bows, she easily got the biggest appaluse.
Which was not to say that the rest of the cast were less talented. There were a few thankless roles, but I thought everyone did a good job. My friend was very believable in her role (funny how Lucille rather resembled Mrs. Macafee; both peace-makers), and I thought the cast worked very well together.
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