The Last Night Of Ballyhoo

The Last Night of BallyhooA comedy/drama by Alfred UhryNovember 7 – December 6, 2008By the author of Driving Miss Daisy, Alfred Uhry’s funny and heartwarming story of the Freitag family is a study of social demands and elitism among the Jewish community in Atlanta in 1939.It is Christmas, and the Freitags have a Christmas tree in their living room. The family gets pulled apart and then mended together as they face where they came from and who they are.Tony Award for Best Play, 1997“A charming, wonderfully crafted play.” (Variety)Directed by Tim IrvingProduced by Kelly LapczynskiOriginally produced on Broadway byJane Harmon, Nina Keneally and Liz Oliver.

Enchanted arms lord of earth battle. Danny Campbell (Adolph Freitag) was recently seen as Col. Pickering in Starlight Theatre’s production of My Fair Lady and with Jill Drexler in Shaw’s You Never Can Tell for Moonlight Stage Productions.

Other credits include Judge James Wilson in 1776, Michael in Dancing At Lughnasa, Horatio in Hamlet, Petruchio in The Taming Of The Shrew, Mordcha in Fiddler On The Roof, Felix in The Odd Couple, Jeff in Brigadoon and with wife Sandy Campbell in Guys And Dolls. His directing credits include Closer Than Ever, Romeo And Juliet, Twelfth Night, Man Of La Mancha and 84 Charing Cross Road. Jude Evans (Peachy Weil) was last seen at Scripps Ranch Theatre (usually on the phone) as Dick Christie, in Woody Allen’s Play it Again, Sam. Favorite San Diego credits include Ferdinand in Shakespeare’s The Tempest with the Poor Players, Gunther Stern in Hannah and Martin by Kate Fodor at Laterthanever Productions, and Buford in One Down, an original script by San Diego playwright, Michael Thomas Tower. Jude has just finished a three-month long haul entertaining families in Yosemite as Ranger Ned in Ranger Ned’s Big Adventure with the Traveling Lantern Theatre Co, and is glad to be back in civilization.

DeNae Steele (as Lala Levy) – San Diego last saw DeNae as Gail in the Fritz’s 1999 production of Escape From Happiness. She recently returned from the east coast where she performed some of her favorite roles: Mary Warren (The Crucible), Linda (Blood Brothers), Chick (Crimes of the Heart) and Shelby (Steel Magnolias). Other credits include Pippin, Buried Child, Richard III, Pericles, Romeo and Juliet, Sweeney Todd, Hello Dolly, Moon Over Buffalo, Fifth of July and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All.

‘Last Night at Ballyhoo’ won the 1997 Tony for Best Play; as written by Alfred Uhry, it is a gentler send-up of stratification and identity politics than ‘Driving Miss Daisy,’ which he also penned. It is not a play of fireworks, but rather takes potentially incendiary material and presents it.

San Diego last saw DeNae as Gail in the Fritz’s 1999 production of Escape From Happiness. She recently returned from the east coast where she performed some of her favorite roles: Mary Warren (The Crucible), Linda (Blood Brothers), Chick (Crimes of the Heart) and Shelby (Steel Magnolias). Other credits include Pippin, Buried Child, Richard III, Pericles, Romeo and Juliet, Sweeney Todd, Hello Dolly, Moon Over Buffalo, Fifth of July and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All.

Morgan Trant (as Sunny Freitag) was last seen in ion Theatre Company’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire as Eunice. Other recent credits include The Grapes of Wrath with ion Theatre, Vicki and Bubbles with the Fritz Blitz festival, Flowers of War with Challenge Theatre, Anton in Show Business, Ajax, Antigone, Amadeus with the La Jolla Stage Company, Othello with the San Diego Women’s Repertory Theatre and The Resilience of Spirit Festival with 6th@Penn. She is delighted to be working with such a wonderful cast and would like to thank her family and friends for their support. Press“Irving has assembled a fine cast of savvy veterans and new faces and gives the piece a tight ensemble feel, including repartee between the lines and familial subtexts suggesting years of strain just below the surface. They perform on Tim Wallace’s detailed set and black walnut furnishings and wearing Mary Larson’s 1939 apparel.

Another well-done show at Scripps Ranch, which has become the norm of late.”–Review by SD Weekly Reader (read more)“Overall, it’s a superb mix of veteran actors (Hooley, Drexler) and newcomers (Chernow, who will soon be headed for David Mamet’s New York training program, the Atlantic Acting School). The set (Tim Wallace) is a family parlor, perhaps not as opulent as this wealthy upwardly-aspiring family would like. The design makes a simple conversion for the train scenes (a piece of leather thrown over a bench).

The costumes (Mary Larson) are period-perfect. But most notable about this production is the ensemble acting; kudos to Irving and his crackerjack cast for that.”–Review by Pat Launer, SD Theatre Scene (read more)“Each of the theatres in San Diego has its own unique character and generally draws specific opening night audiences. Last night’s opening of The Last Night of Ballyhoo at Scripps Ranch Theatre shattered this illusion. The audience was a vast mix of theatre patrons I usually see in Pt. Loma, La Jolla, East County, Chula Vista, and in theatres from Ion to La Jolla Playhouse and Starlight to Diversionary and the small theatres in downtown San Diego. The draw was an excellent cast (Danny Campbell, Jill Drexler, Dana Hooley, DeNae Steele, Morgan Trant, Alex Chernow, and Jude Evans) under the able direction of director-about-town Tim Irving.

Cavernous malformation vs avm. Kudos go to each member of the cast. There is a perfect unity in the production.”–Review by Hitch, Sd Theatre Scene (read more).