➤ STORMY WEATHER, from p.37
and unexpected visitors have
descended on the Pines beach
house of Tim Bailey (the exceptional
Tim Burke, an original
1999 cast member of “Naked
Boys Singing”) and his
teenaged daughter, Tina Jane
(Kristina Dizon), derailing an
intimate evening with Tim’s
22-year-old boytoy, Bobby (a
spirited Dillion Everett).
“Just remember he’s 100
percent bottom. A power bottom
at that,” Tim curiously
says to his daughter after she
confesses to having an innocent
crush on Bobby.
The visitors are actually
survivors, washed ashore after
their yacht was struck by
lightning. Oh yeah, and one of
them happens to be Tim’s exhusband,
Mark (Charles Manning),
along with his wealthy
bear of a boyfriend, Harry
(Michael O. Tubman), who is
also Tim’s former boss. Along
for the ride is Harry’s son (a
perfectly cast Robert Bradvica)
who falls hard and fast —
emphasis on hard — for Tina
Jane. Injecting extra comic
juice to the mix are a wisecracking,
horny Quebecois
houseboy (Noah Pyzik) and a
hippie stoner deckhand (Zach
Reyes). Odd sexual couplings
erupt out of nowhere and it’s
no big deal.
And if you think the plot
is absurdly farfetched, ask
anyone who has endured a
summer share in the Pines.
Except for the shipwreck part,
wacked-out stuff like this really
does happen. All the
time.
A running joke among Tim,
Mark, and Tina Jane is quoting
phrases from classic musicals
and movies, like “Fasten
your seatbelts, it’s going to
be a bumpy night” and “You’re
tearing me apart.” Even the
play’s title is lifted from a 1943
movie musical. If you don’t
catch these references, I suggest
you turn in your queer
card pronto.
Like the plot of one of those
movie classics, the melodrama
intensifi es along with the
storm raging outside, with
hurricane force winds and
RUSS ROWLAND
Dillion Everett gets a Quebecois surprise
from Noah Pyzik in “Stormy Weather.”
hailstones the size of quarters,
stranding all of them and forcing
them to confront one another
— and themselves. Once
the clouds have parted, clarity
hits and heady questions
about careers, who to marry,
and what’s really important in
life are answered. Previously
messy lives are neatly tied up
in a pretty pastel bow.
True to the summer theater
fest tradition, the microbudget
“Stormy Weather” is
ragged around the edges, with
scant production values and a
mixed bag of performances.
Suspend disbelief when characters
come in from the pouring
rain with fl uffy dry hair
and clothes. Don’t fret when
a promising game of Celebrity
is laboriously set up but
not paid off, or when a corny
punch line misses its mark.
But the play’s heart — and
funny bone — are fi rmly in the
right place. And who doesn’t
need a strong dose of goofy
escapism these days? As Tim
might be inclined to say, “Forget
your troubles, come on get
happy.”
STORMY WEATHER | Rave
Theater Festival | Clemente
Soto Velez Cultural Center, 107
Suffolk St. at Rivington St. |
Aug. 15 at 9:15 p.m., Aug. 20
& 22 at 9 p.m., Aug. 25 at 1:45
p.m. | $25 at RaveTheaterFestival.
com | Ninety mins., with
no intermission
GayCityNews.com | August 15 - August 28, 2019 39
/GayCityNews.com
