Laugh until you cry or cry until you laugh.
Either way, Whidbey Playhouse’s version of “The Cemetery Club” will leave the people in its audience wishing they were widows.
The play is the chronicle of three women who faithfully visit their husbands once a year — at the cemetery.
The women manage to keep their spirits as high as their husband’s by continuously razzing one another, even as jealousy tries to trump their friendship.
The three widows meet once a month to visit the graves of their deceased husbands, stopping along the way to reminisce about the good ol’ days.
Kay Johnson plays Ida, a level headed woman who is caught up in the emotions that have her in flux between missing her husband and wanting to feel loved. Johnson is able to capture the subtleties of Ida, and she displays the range of emotions that is evoked throughout the performance.
Terry Ann Daugherty gives Lucille a bit of overindulgence and flamboyance, which is precisely what makes her believable as a character. Everybody has a Lucille in their family — rich, young at heart and still chasing men long since they lost the ability to run away. The brazen portrayal is complimented by the Brooklyn honk that would leave a goose jealous.
Doris is the hard-headed cornerstone of the trio. Kyle Northcutt plays her with ease, giving her a rigidness that is at times necessary to keep the other two grounded.
The first act sees what happens when the three of them get together.
“I’ve dropped a couple of pounds,” Doris says after making her entrance.
“Oh, you’re losing weight?” Lucille ponders.
“No, it’s just moving down,” Doris replies in a perfect deadpan.
The shining star in the show is Samuel Katz, a widow himself and the local butcher. Jack Sondericker lends a youthful accent to Sam, which gives him that soft grandpa feel. Sam is an emotional masterpiece. He is stoic in the face of his wife’s death, yet his ability to cope elevates him above a mere mortal.
When the trio happens upon Sam one fall day in the cemetery, the man-loving Lucille is quick to pounce, much to the chagrin of Doris and Ida.
When the three women debate the appropriateness of Lucille’s actions, Sam ponders to the grave of Doris’s husband “And you thought you were going to rest in piece.”
One of the traits of this play that sets it apart is the writing. Northcutt gets the opportunity to deliver several monologues on the ways people cope and the meaning of friendship that are truly thought provoking.
The second scene begins to develop the puppy love between Ida and Sam, which ruffle’s Lucille and Doris’s feathers. Sondericker and Johnson are able to tap into that teenage awkwardness that comes with the first first bumbling moments of prepubescent romance.
Both stand pigeon-toed and flinch as the slightest suggestion of further romance is implied. The reaction to physical contact is priceless. Ida and Sam further bond over the emotional retelling of their previous marriages. Bring a tissue.
Overall, this play will leave the audience in tears, but who is to say what kind. The cast still has some meshing to do, as the delivery is not yet seamless. All are able to ad-lib, but it is obvious when it is necessary.
The dress rehearsal did what a dress rehearsal is supposed to do — find the holes in the performance. Now it is up to the cast to fix them.
See the show
Sept. 10, 11, 17, 18, 24, 25 curtain at 8 p.m. For the Sept. 16 and 23 shows, the curtain is at 7:30 p.m. And for the Sept. 12 an 19 matinees, the curtain is at 2:30 p.m. Call 679-7529.
A benefit show will be put on Sept. 9 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $20 and benefit Island County Meth Action Team. To reserve tickets, call 679-2423.
