Just in time for summer comes a golfing show with hilarious hi jinks and laughs which is better than a good round, but knowledge or practice of the sport is not required to have a good time in the tap room of the Quail Valley Golf and Country Club.
It's the place for A Fox on the Fairway at the Little Theatre of Alexandria.
The show takes off as fast as a ball hit by Brooks Koepka, which means there is nothing slow about these players who do more than choke, fade, or hook competitors. They dice 'em and feed 'em to each other (?).
The action happens in a nicely designed setting (by Marian Holmes) of a formerly elegant golf club whose owner, Bingham (Ken Kemp) has bet $200,000 and his angry wife's antique shop that his golfers are better than those golfers from the Crouching Squirrel Country Club.
With a name like Crouching Squirrel, you might expect its owner, Dickie (Brendan Chaney) to be anything but suave and you would be right.
Costumers Ceci Albert and Lisa Brownsword have dressed Dickie in uglier sweaters than any to be found at the ugliest Christmas Ugly Sweater Contest. Dickie's ensembles fit his ugly personality of tricks and smooth operations. He's a hulk of a man, and Chaney carries the role splendidly.
On the other side of the ring putters poor Bingham with troubles aplenty, stuck in the rough, caught between his wife, a new love life, the club's deterioration, and the golf contest.
You were expecting anything less?
Three couples are off balance in Fox.
One is the energetic young couple, Louise (Raeanna Nicole Larson) and Justin (Cameron McBride), who just happen to get engaged on set (and who in life are an energetic young couple who just happen to be their own team).
The other two couples are mostly splitsville: Bingham and his screechy wife, Muriel (Lorraine Bouchard); and Dickie and his ex-wife, Pamela (Patricia Nicklin).
While the older ones tolerate rough patches, Louise works in the tap room and Justin comes to work and they make par.
Can Justin save Bingham's bogeys?
Adding to the merry-go-round are Louise's occasional drifts into soliloquy under a single spotlight to discharge classic lines while the cast stands in freeze mode.
Dickie's approach to winning is complicated by Pamela whose presence always increases the rhythm and temperature.
Although it is gauche to laugh at drunkenness, I could not help but admire Ms. Nicklin's portrayal of progressive inebriation as the night wears on.
Meanwhile, Bingham grows increasingly anxious as his greens wear thin, Muriel is barking, and his top golfer has jumped club, but wait, where is that new hire?
As the central figure, Kemp is spot-on.
His grouchy, screechy spouse is dressed as dull as a monk, but a monk, she's not, performing a shrewd mad wife who, like the rest of us, is vulnerable to seduction by attention.
The Fox in Alexandria has its minor deficiencies, namely, the ending on the golf course with a handsome greens backdrop encumbered by a confusing mix from other scenes which could be covered or removed, and (am I the only one who cares?) the "bad words" which are gratuitous and offensive. Ain't life realistic enough to escape ear hurts for a while? They add nothing and diminish the enjoyment.
Still, this Fox is lots of fun on Alexandria's fairway where it scores a birdie and an eagle.
Applause to Scott J. Strasbaugh, making his directorial debut at LTA, and to sound designers Krista White and Alan Wray who will certainly be nominated for a WATCH award since they effectively contribute to almost every scene with a splash, thud, or crash.
Fore!
A Fox on the Fairway made its debut at Signature Theatre in Washington on October 9, 2010. The playwright is DC's own, Ken Lend Me a Tenor Ludwig.
Other creative team members are Luana Bossolo & Russ Wyland, producers; Stacey Becker, properties; Susan Boyd, hair and makeup; Sherry Clarke and Brittany Huffman, stage managers; April Bridgeman and Brendan Quinn, assistant stage managers; Michael Page, fight choreographer; Ken Brown, set construction; Jeffrey Auerbach and Kimberly Crago lighting designers.
What: A Fox on the Fairway by Ken Ludwig
When: Now through June 29, 2019. Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and a Sunday matinee, June 23 at 3 p.m.
Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
Tickets: $21 to $24
Rating: PG-13
Duration: Two hours with one 15-minute intermission
Public transportation: Check the Metro website which supplies information to LTA during Metro station improvements.
Parking: On the streets and in many garages nearby. If Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets is closed, the bank's lot is open to LTA patrons at no charge.
For more information: 703-683-0496
patricialesli@gmail.com
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