Bristol Riverside Theatre stages Ken Ludwig’s ‘Moon Over Buffalo.’
By: Matt Smith
The madcap comedies of Ken Ludwig are seemingly ubiquitous. Ludwig’s opera-set farce Lend Me A Tenor is one of the more produced plays in the country, and his Bard-inspired Shakespeare in Hollywood opens at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia next month.
Into the mix comes a production of Ludwig’s Moon Over Buffalo at Bristol Riverside Theatre. The 1995 show about a dysfunctional theater company and a chaotic tour stop in 1953 Buffalo, N.Y., is on stage Nov. 15 to Dec. 4.
BRT Artistic Director Edward Keith Baker plays fading actor George Hay, opposite BRT favorite Penelope Reed as Charlotte Hay, George’s fading actress wife. Karen Peakes stars as the bickering couple’s daughter, Rosalind, while Jared Michael Delaney portrays Paul, the company manager and Rosalind’s former boyfriend.
Ms. Peakes and Mr. Delaney are Philadelphia-based actors making their first appearances at BRT. Neither has ever attempted a Ludwig play, and both seem up to the challenge of acting in the fairly well-known Moon Over Buffalo.
"I don’t find it intimidating to do a show people have seen before," says Ms. Peakes, who has a number of Shakespeare credits. "They see it because it’s a good show."
"Good comedy is good comedy," adds Mr. Delaney, also a veteran of Shakespeare plays. "How many times can you see (Michael Frayn’s) ‘Noises Off’? But I laugh every time I see it. ‘Moon Over Buffalo’ is very funny, and I think it’s funny regardless of who’s doing it. Well, hopefully we’re funny maybe not. I don’t know."
The BRT cast also features Michael Hardart as Howard, Rosalind’s weatherman fiancé, and Paul L. Nolan as Richard, the lawyer with his sights on Charlotte. Susan Moses is the matriarchal Ethel, Charlotte’s very deaf mother, and Katierose Donahue appears as the comely young actress Eileen, who catches more than George’s eye.
The characters’ professional and personal lives collide as they prepare for an afternoon matinee of either Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac or Noel Coward’s Private Lives (it depends on who you ask). A further complication is the anticipated attendance of famed film director Frank Capra, who might whisk George and Charlotte back into the limelight if he likes what he sees.
Moon Over Buffalo primarily has its mind on comedy, but it memorializes a rough patch in American theater at least when it came to the touring companies popular in the first half of the 20th century.
"The ’50s were a difficult period for American theater," says Mr. Delaney, "with the exception of Tennessee Williams. Eugene O’Neill had just died, and Arthur Miller was sort of struggling through the ’50s."
"Like they say in the play," adds Ms. Peakes, "it was this weird transition when people were starting to be more interested in TV and film but theater actors were like, ‘Wait, we’re still here.’"
Making a living in theater is never easy, whether it’s 1953 or 2005, but Ms. Peakes and Mr. Delaney are finding success in Philadelphia. She has acted at the Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Company and Arden Theatre Company, to name a few. He recently starred in one Philadelphia Fringe Festival show and directed another, and in 2004 was part of the Barrymore Award-winning "outstanding Ensemble" for The Comedy of Errors at Lantern Theater Company in the city.
"It’s worked out for me," says Ms. Peakes, a Baltimore native. "My husband (Ian Peakes) is also an actor, and so far (Philadelphia) has been pretty darned good. You can support yourself doing theater. You also supplement it with unemployment between jobs, and maybe some side jobs, but not lately. We’ve just been doing straight theater."
"It’s mostly been a similar experience for me," adds Mr. Delaney, who grew up near Scranton and toiled as a journalist before devoting himself to acting. "I’ve worked very consistently for a while. Last year, unfortunately, I had a bit of a slow year. It happens. But the other nice thing about Philadelphia is that there are a lot of commercials and industrials. I do a lot of those, and they really help supplement your income."
Moon Over Buffalo is the first show Ms. Peakes and Mr. Delaney have acted in together, although they were already acquainted.
"Karen, I can’t stand her," jokes Mr. Delaney. "I didn’t want to go on the record about this, but I don’t really care for Karen. If I could replace her with someone else, I would, but unfortunately I don’t have that kind of power. But I found out I’m going to be fight captain, so I can arrange for an accident to occur."
Mr. Delaney and Ms. Peakes already have the onstage chemistry working, particularly during one passionate scene.
"I get to make out with Karen on stage," Mr. Delaney says. "I’m looking forward to when her husband comes to that performance. I’m excited about that. It’s going to be fun."
"He’s an actor, so it’s no problem," says Ms. Peakes of her husband.
"He makes out with girls onstage all the time," adds Mr. Delaney.
"I’ve had to be naked onstage with people before (in ‘Equus’)," says Ms. Peakes. "It’s like, ‘Maybe this time he’ll be jealous.’"
Moon Over Buffalo plays at Bristol Riverside Theatre, 120 Radcliffe St., Bristol, Pa., Nov. 15-Dec. 4. Performances: Wed.-Thurs. 2, 8 p.m.; Fri. 8 p.m., Sat. 2, 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.; Nov. 15, 8 p.m.; no 2 p.m. performance Nov. 16; no performances Nov. 24. Tickets cost $29-$37. For information, call (215) 785-0100. On the Web: www.brtstage.org

