"Moon" Shines Bright Over Buffalo in CLT Production

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

The Clemson Little Theatre at the Pendleton Playhouse opened a fire hose of fun with their most recent production: “Moon Over Buffalo.”

The cast takes a deep dive in the playful misdirection of this play, which features a pair of road-worn stage actors who, in 1953, fear they are at the final stages of the sunset of their careers as they tour with their own company in Buffalo, N.Y.

George (Paul Hyde) and Charlotte Hay (Paula Doolittle) who have somehow decided that their small, failing touring company should tackle both “Cyrano de Bergerac” and “Private Lives” on the same stage on alternate days in Buffalo, when a unexpected phone call offers one last shot at the Hollywood dream that has eluded the aging couple.

Hyde shines as George, from the embedded play-within-a-play scenes where he berates his cast for lack of enthusiasm, to the last act’s drunken antics that fuel action and laughs. Doolitte as the stagey Charlotte whose ambition always seems to override common sense is also just right. Charlotte finds that moving between acting and real life a bit challenging at times, and Doolittle is spot on. These actors are long-time veterans of the local theatre scene, and it shows, as their strong timing sets the pace for the play.

George is a philanderer, who got his much young cast member, Eileen (Caitlyn Herrington), pregnant, while Charlotte and the couple’s lawyer Richard (Paul Cappola) are repeatedly ready to leave together to start a new life.  

As the couple watches their personal lives erode along with their careers, their daughter Rosalind (Raine Riley) drops in for an unexpected visit to introduce her local weatherman fiancé Howard (Andrew Bishop), who is in awe of the celebrity of George and Charlotte.  

Rosalind, a former actress torn between her love for her parents and the harsh reality of where the theatre life has taken them, has one of the most hilarious moments of the play as an actress left waiting, alone, on stage for George who is more than a little late. 

Rosalind generated sustained laughter as her desperation grew. When George finally takes the stage in the wrong costume and reciting dialog from another play, she delivers one of the funniest moments of the play as the chaos that follows unravels the rest of the story, which centered around a promised visit from legendary movie director Frank Capra, who just might have dream roles for George and Charlotte. 

As Howard, Bishop finds the right groove in a more slapstick, over-the-top, role, by taking a low-key approach as a kind of sleepy version of Ted Baxter.

Meanwhile Charlotte’s near-deaf mother Ethel (Lynn Campbell), the costume manager for the troupe, has little use for George. Campbell, another stage veteran, brings life to the alternately bored-angry Ethel, rising above the occasionally dated jokes with a fine subdued energy.

As Eileen, Herrington finds the sweet spot as the clueless, crying ingénue who baffled George, infuriates Charlotte, and ultimately wins over Howard. Her weeping is a track which sends the male characters into chaos.

Paul Coppola is just right as the confused/lovestruck Richard who keeps Charlotte packing and unpacking to leave with him, much to the hysteric distress of George, to whom “Moon Over Buffalo” ultimately belongs.

Hyde’s George is asked to do just about everything but sing and dance, and he moves easily between dramatic, pompous confusion, scene stealing madness as Cyrano, to a Foster Brooks-like stumbling drunken rants and stumbles. 

I am uncertain how Will Nash Broyles pulled off the direction of this play, which is a series of fast-moving changes in action and storyline, but whatever he did it worked.

The final scene, which leaves open the hope of something better for George and Charlotte while conceding the possibility is probably another long shot, leaves the audience with a little hope for this crew of theatre misfits and their family. Perhaps they wished on the moon and found in each other what they really wanted. 

The Pendleton Playhouse remains one of the most comfortable venues for those attending local theatre productions, with excellent viewing angles throughout the theatre. “Moon Over Buffalo” ended Sunday, but their season is just beginning. For more information on future productions, visit here.