By James V. Ruocco
The title - "Zoey's Perfect Wedding" - pretty much sums it up.
Zoey's family is Jewish.
The groom's family is a group of religious nutters who hail from Arkansas.
Trouble brewing. Oh, yes.
Perfect, not likely.
If it was, there'd be no point to Matthew Lopez's irresistible comedy about the mishaps of one couple's wedding reception (the groom is never seen) at the downtown Brooklyn Marriott during Thanksgiving weekend (the rates are cheaper), circa 2008.
"I look like 'Carrie,' " cries Zoey looking in the hotel's bathroom mirror halfway through the first part of play - her beautifully designed wedding gown covered in creamy chocolate frosting, which she later enjoys (licking it off the dress, that is) with some welcomed, much-needed alcoholic refreshment.
That's just one of the many, many laughs in this intoxicating comedy portrait about family and friends (some offstage; some onstage) whose colorful banter, excessive drinking, surprise revelations, judgemental tirades and candid sexual remarks about intercourse turn "Zoey's Perfect Wedding" into one of this season's must-see endeavors at TheaterWorks in Hartford.
If a script was available for sale (sadly, it is not) in the theater's inviting, spacious, recently revamped lobby, theater patrons would no doubt be leaving Hartford with a copy in tow for late-night reading, cocktail sipping or off-the-cuff improvisation or acting out in the privacy of their home.
Sexy.
Intimate.
Wild.
Whimsical.
Cheeky.
Down-and-Dirty.
No matter what your sexual preference - more on that later - shot for shot, this paean to pop-culture weddings paints an open view on the fun, the charm, the angst, the jitters, the expectations and the disappointments of something borrowed, something blue.
Matthew Lopez, best known for "The Legend of Georgia McBride," "The Whipping Man" and the Tony award-winning 2019 play "The Inheritance," fuels "Zoey's Perfect Wedding" with dialogue, motives and situations that provide an insider's view to the wild and wacky subject matter at hand. Here, his cynical voice is attractive and generous, full of acute, detailed, well-drawn banter that never loses site of the character's humanity, their chartered, entertaining accounts and pronouncements and sentences that are pen-and-paper ready for some wondrous, stand-alone quotes.
With nothing on his mind except to entertain, Lopez's descriptive candor and wedding planning/wedding reception truisms illuminate his play with bite, zing and straightforward acceptance. His mountaineering - serviceable, pithy, splendid and cherishably vulgar - provides apt humor, absurdity, wallop, shudder and spine. No room for argument, either. "Zoey's Perfect Wedding" is what it is. It's a comedy. It's not going to change the world. It's not going to make you lock yourself in the closet and cry. It's not going to ruin your marriage or ask you to call your divorce lawyer first thing in the morning. It's also not going to make you rethink your upcoming wedding plans.
As the story evolves, you get an insider's peek at lives and situations you probably already know with just the right amount of push and shove to make you want to see what happens next in the up-close and personal saga of the just-married Zoey and her quirky, mouthy, idiosyncratic friends including Rachel, the best friend who wasn't asked to be a bridesmaid and Sammy, a handsome, gay man (his lover Jordan is sick at home) who cannot resist the urge to drop his pants when the urge for hot, smoldering man-to-man sex is an invitation he simply can't (and will not) pass up.
Staging "Zoey's Perfect Wedding" director Rob Ruggiero brings a decided sense of purpose and excitement to the proceedings, mixed with gracious grandstanding, believable comedy, heated drama and breezy momentum. Working from Lopez's comedic blueprint, he gives the playwright's acerbic behind-the-scene's commentary - a wedding reception swirling completely out of control - a logical mindset and backup that keeps it free from parody, panto, soap opera and melodrama.
Balanced with fresh ideas, wonderful bits of physical comedy and reflective, shrewd and swoop injection, this translation moves quickly from scene to scene and character to character never once losing sight of its tracking, its jokey premise or its story arc fluidity. It's all perfectly synced, mended, rehearsed and performed with impressive energy, command and result.
Ruggiero - smart and savvy director that he is - wouldn't have it any other way.
There's food fights and wedding toasts that get completely out of hand. There's lots of memorable slip's of the tongue. There's loud, catchy 1980's pop music. There's arguments and conversations about gay sex, straight sex and no sex. There's talk about marriage, commitment, cheating and divorce. There's excess drinking from liquor bottles, shot glasses and champagne flutes. There's a wedding cake malfunction that leaves the bride's wedding gown covered with chocolate frosting. There's a private gay porn video that isn't a secret any more. There's a sexy gay bartender who's primed and ready for some hot gay sex with an equally hot male wedding guest. There's girly fights and flip discussions in the ladies' room. There's a song list, provided by the bride that the hired DJ refuses to play. There's no food, delayed food, a shortage of food and a last-minute reprieve of Chinese take away. There's raunchy banter about the joys of being the recipient of gay sex with a 10-inch penis. There's mobile phone screw-ups. And finally, Table 27, for plot purposes, is the worst seat in the house.
Tapped into the eccentricities and ever evolving paradox of Lopez's creative spin, Ruggiero provides a front-table view of bafflement, pleasure, gaffe and shifting physical energy, using stage mechanics, movements and blocking techniques that are timed, played and choreographed with split-second precision and hook. It's a sustained process that fuels the inside joke of a wedding party falling dreadfully apart, piqued by exercises in drilled, head-on lunacy and pathos primed and aimed for huge belly laughs at every possible turn. At the same time, these moments - small, large and ballyhoo - provide a charming intimacy and a kick-around fell of recreation (Brian Sidney Bembridge's attractive, immersive set and lighting design complements the action) that's pulled off with force, blaze and evident joy.
"Zoey's Perfect Wedding" stars Blair Lewis as Rachel, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka as Sammy, Daniel Jose Molina as Charlie, Rachel B. Joyce as Zoey, Hallie Eliza Friedman as Missy and Estaban Carmona as DJ.
Rachel, an attractive wedding planner and best friend to the bride whose marriage is slightly on the rocks, is played with ice cool allure and sophistication by Lewis, who, as the play evolves, becomes more and more irritated and frazzled in true comic fashion. She also gets to deliver a stinging nuptial toast to the bride and groom about why the institution of marriage is one big joke. As Sammy, an attractive gay man whose boyfriend is home sick in bed, Herdlicka crafts a solid comic performance with bundles of positives that run smooth, hit home and address gay life without stereotypical convention. His raunchy, explicit tirades are hilariously executed and well suited to everyone's levels of fringe-induced humor.
Cast in the role of Missy, the perplexed wedding planner who puts on a smiley, happy face when things backfire throughout the wedding party reception, Friedman is very entertaining to watch as is her defined comedic style and slightly slapstick-oriented persona which makes everything she says and does completely palpable. As Rachel's husband Charlie and best friend to Sammy, Daniel Jose Molina moves through the script and its hilarious complications with breeze, snap and responsibility and gets laughs in all the right places. There's also a hint of a sexual attraction on Sammy's part to Charlie, a plot device with spoiler ramifications and surprise that pops up during the play's final half hour.
Looking every inch the happy and not-so-happy bride, Joyce finds lots of well orchestrated humor, frustration, anger and madcap dash to bring the title character of Zoey to life. She looks absolutely smashing in her wedding gown (smart costume design choices by Harry Nadal befitting the entire cast) and has great fun portraying a character where everything can and does go so terribly wrong. Completely the picture, Carmona stands out as a DJ with prefers to play his own music at the wedding reception and much later, befriends Missy as a very possible love interest. The actor also gets some very funny dialogue including a truly hilarious comic bit involving his Hispanic family's miscommunication with the English language, thus mistaking "The Color Purple" film title for a movie called "The Colored People."
Fresh, charming and blossoming with satiric, playful flair, "Zoey's Perfect Wedding" is a hilariously crafted comedy with dish-sized enthusiasm, raw, laugh-a-minute language, brazen, cutthroat footing and more than enough rights and wrongs for wedding reception partying to make one think twice about actually tying the knot and sending out all those invites to friends, family and loved ones.
Rob Ruggiero's fitfully, inventive take on Matthew Lopez's play script is real-time, kinetic-fueled, matched by six engaging performances of sugar-rush escapism, inviting wit and camp and some bitter, in-your-face truths and commentary about relationships - gay and straight - that hit home in a salty, jubilant, recognized manner.
Photos of "Zoe's Perfect Wedding" by Mike Marques
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