Moonglow - review

[Jane Zussman]

Riverwalk’s Black Box was full on this opening night — in many ways. First with an almost-sold-out audience, and also with a full spectrum of emotions, from laughter to tears and a lot in between, frustration, devotion, regret, anger, love…

Moonglow is Michigan playwright Kim Carney’s beautiful “dramedy” of two families’ experience with “the emotional roller coaster of Alzheimer’s disease” as director Emily Clark explains in her note. The program also includes contact information fit the Alzheimer’s Association Michigan Chapter at all.org/gmc email helplinegmc@alzorg and a 24/7 Helpline” 800-272-3900.

Sounds dark, I know, but, trust me, it’s funny and entertaining, too — with “dance numbers” and laugh-out-loud jokes on the quirks of humanity and the complicated relationships families create, which become even more complicated when memory and present-day reality merge.

Erin Hoffman displays a heartfelt combination of frustration and devotion as she installs her very unwilling mother (Barb Stauffer) into a nursing facility. There she meets Joe, another resident who shares her love of dancing. Their hazy memories overlap and grow into a love affair with each other as stand-ins for their respective past spouses. Barb’s transitions from anger to childlike neediness to romantic girlfriend are unsettling but intriguing to watch. 

Doak Bloss’s Joe also drifts between a dismissive father who doesn't remember his his son’s name to a charming, flirtatious boyfriend. His son (Frank Boston) tries to connect and do the right thing, to no avail. Filonna Thomas, nursing home administrator, does her best to steady the rocky boat with her patients and their children. Her expression after discovering her patients’ affair is priceless.

Emerging from the darkness and blending in and out of this reality are Storm Hawthorne and Connor Kelly as the past identities of the nursing home pair. Storm’s giddy jitterbugger overlaps and blends into Barb’s stubborn, cranky present-day combatant. Connor’s dashing sailor does the same with Doak. Their presence and spirit fill out our pictures of the two elders as they drift in and out of the “nowhere” background of this furniture-only set, over a beautiful, abstract “moon-y” floor (scenography Ric Sadler) with Ted Daniels’s lighting focusing our attention on either the present or past.

This is a beautiful, heartfelt show — with, as I mentioned, a full house of people who will recommend it to others, so best to phone ahead or reserve online to assure admission, even though it’s general seating — and arrive early; there are only about 80 seats in the Black Box. 517-482-5700; https://www.riverwalktheatre.com/box-office.html Moonglow continues through April 21.

Jane Zussman

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(Greater Lansing Ubiquitous Theatre)

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