A CATERED AFFAIR

When was the last time you went to the theater (especially with a musical) and the audience actually listened, they were quiet and heard every word said...that’s the effect of ‘A Catered Affair’, the tiny 95 min chamber opera that offers an emotional wallop.

The new pre-Broadway musical by Harvey Fierstein & John Bucchino, still in previews at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre, is an emotinally deep and sophisticated opera told through very unsophisticated characters. Faith Prince and Tom Wopat have a lot to sink their teeth into and when they go full force it is devastating. Harvey Fierstein gives the much needed comic relief as the gay Uncle, needless to say he’s so over-the-top that he’s almost inappropriate among the rest of the cast.

The music and lyrics by John Bucchino are so insightful, the audience was stunned into self-reflection which they were not prepared for but ate up. A feast for a soulless society to reawaken.

Not that it doesn’t have its flaws, I wish the music was as meaningful and memorable as the lyrics and book. It takes a while to get going but when it does it’s like a steam-roller. Harvey Fierestein has added many layers of humanity to the 50’s Bette Davis film. The incomparable John Doyle directs with powerful simplicity allowing silence to tell us a lot.

Whether Broadway can sustain this small sad opera over 'The Little Mermaid' & 'Young Frankenstein', one can only hope since movie musicals alone aren’t a well rounded diet. ‘A CAtered Affair’ will nurture the soul of Broadway if we let it.