Charlie is an aspiring actor doing what is expected of all aspiring actors: he waits tables in various restaurants around Manhattan. In Eat You Heart Out, we take the journey with him from the drought of opportunities to the role of a lifetime.
Saturday evening of opening weekend for the Albright Theatre’s latest production was sparsely attended, which is really too bad. This is a great company and I would really like to see their houses a bit more full. As it was, though, the audience that was there seemed to thoroughly enjoy their evening. I also want to mention that I liked the recent addition of the light booth/concession stand/box office they have built. It was something they needed and I think they’ve done it well.
Eat Your Heart Out opens with Charlie (JP Quirk) preparing the tables at the first restaurant in which we see him working. Quirk looks the part and has an easy manner about him. Unfortunately he speaks a little too fast and was rushing many of his lines. He’s a good actor with some great instincts, but occasionally missed the nuances and comedy of a line due to his rapid delivery. I wanted him to take more time to think about what he was saying and make it more real to himself. There were some moments he could have made great if he’d taken the time to think, and show us his thinking, before reciting the lines.
The Girls were portrayed by Anika Bryceson. Very pretty and fantastic looking on stage, Bryceson was the picture of innocence…maybe even a little too innocent. I wanted more sexual tension between her first character and Charlie, not just shy awkwardness, especially in the opening scene. There needed to be more pull between them to establish the emotional conflict in the plot. There’s not a lot to the overarching story and the attraction between them needed to be stronger to make the plot believable.
Taryn Hettlinger Parise played The Women. She was funny and endearing in each reincarnation. It takes a very talented actor to distinguish each individual role and keep them interesting. Once again, I felt there were some nuances to the script missing, but overall I thought she did a great job.
Tony Parise and Terrell Riggins also played multiple roles as The Men and The Boys, respectively. I thought both did a fine job. If I were to make any suggestions to them, though, it would be to work on the subtlety of their deliveries. The Albright is a small space and doesn’t need too much “big” acting to get the point across. I think they could both pull back a bit and still be very effective in their roles.
I have to say, though, my favorite person of the evening was Aidan Descourouez as The Bus Boy. Silent throughout, he had great facial expressions and body language. I saw more thought in his mute portrayal than I saw in several of the more seasoned actors. And while it may have gone on just a little too long, his dance sequence was great fun and broke up the action just enough for the break the audience needed at that point.
On the tech side of things, it was pretty straight forward. There was a one point where the backstage folks seemed to be making too much noise and I was wondering what was going on, when I suddenly realized they were meant to be the background din! While I appreciated the authenticity of the sound, it wasn’t quite enough to be “din” and therefore not recognizable as a sound effect. There needs to be more of it and more constant to be truly effective.
Set design was very minimal, which normally I like. However, in this case, I would have liked to see more shift between the restaurants than just the table clothes. Perhaps some paintings or photos that could be flipped around. Or restaurant names that could be easily changed. It wasn’t hard to follow the changes as they were, but the clothes didn’t give me enough recognition of the each scene to remember what had transpired in that restaurant previously. I needed more visual cues.
For me, the number one thing I wanted to change, though, was the overall timing of delivery. Quirk was not the only person to rush his lines. At several point I wanted to stop everyone on stage to tell them to slow down and breathe. And not just breathe, but to think about what they were saying. Enunciation was lost, punch lines glossed over, laughs stepped on because it felt as though everyone was racing to the end. It also meant there was no emotional build, as I mentioned earlier. The entire play stayed at one emotional level, regardless of whether we were happy about a prospective role or frustrated over not providing for our family.
Eat Your Heart Out is an entertaining show with lots of laughs for everyone, especially those of us who know what waiting tables while hoping for our big break is like! There are so many things we can relate to, and so many things that are funny because they’re true. The Albright is doing a fine job of this show, there just some things they could be doing to make it great. Get out there to Batavia and see it. It’s a great group of people to support.
Eat Your Heart Out is presentedby The Albright Theatre in downtown Batavia and runs through September 24, 2011. For tickets and information go to their website here.
