July has heated up to be as hot as h-e-double hockey sticks with humidity to match so if you’re looking to get out of the house but skip Gehenna I recommend a short jaunt out to Geneseo to take in Richmond Hill Players current production of Heaven Help Me by Joe Simonelli. RHP’s Skiles Dynasty once again rules the roost of this show with Dana taking the helm as director, dad Mike and uncle Jim as set builders and their newest addition, niece Elli Moore on crew. This family’s decades of devotion to RHP is truly remarkable.
The program synopsis reads: “The three surviving Holloway brothers are facing a dilemma! Their string of casual eateries is losing money and, in order to save the family business, oldest brother Sam wants to sell the only remaining joint property, a valuable waterfront house in Rockaway Beach, New York. The problem: youngest ‘black sheep’ brother Rollie has his own plans, namely to pay off the loan sharks he owes money to. Middle brother/business accountant Kevin has an overbearing wife who also wants her share. And let’s not forget their deceased brother’s widow Martha, who also has a quarter share and needs money due to a pending divorce! And if all that is not bad enough, said deceased brother Fred is haunting the house and doesn’t want anyone else living there!”
This show is billed as a comedy but it isn’t a belly laugh, roll in the aisles show. It is a more subtle amusement with clever dialogue and some mysterious appellations which bring in the chuckles, mostly in Act I. The show takes on a heartfelt poignancy in the second act and wraps up the action with a satisfying comic twist.
Mike Kelly, David Shaffer and Victor Angelo take on the rolls of Sam, Fred, and Kevin, respectfully, and they deliver solid performances although Angelo could have been teensy bit sleazy to make us dislike him a little more. Mallory Park is uber convincing as the pragmatic widow Martha, but the standout Cali Van Zandt lends the lion’s share of the comedy with flamboyant energy.
Big compliments go out to all the performers for superb projection and to Dana for adding a little surprise during one of the scene changes which I won’t reveal so as not to lessen its effect.
Costuming can enhance an actor’s performance but Shaffer was dressed in a somewhat shabby outfit of jeans and a t-shirt which, to me, made it look like he had just wandered in to a rehearsal. I would have liked to see him in something that looked “other worldly.” But, that’s me being picky again.
Heaven Help Me continues at Richmond Hill Players Barn Theatre in Geneseo, Thursday through Saturday, July 16 through 18 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 19 at 3:00 p.m.
I’m Chris Hicks…break a leg.