“Grace and Glorie”: Broadway Vista Delivers Good Drama (Yet Again)
Words by Kristen Fogle
“Grace and Glorie,” Tom Ziegler’s two actress show, is the story of death and dying, hope and loss, and the power of friendship, even among two very different people.
Grace, an older woman—who inconveniently lives in the middle of nowhere—finds herself practically abandoned: her husband and five boys are deceased, her only relative is Roy (an ingrate who merely deals with her), and her dear niece is too far away for her to visit. When she learns after a recent hospitalization that Grace is dying, Gloria—a New York transplant, Harvard M.B.A., and former businesswoman that has just moved to the area—comes to help Grace during her final days as a hospice volunteer.
Gloria (Glorie, as Grace calls her) offers assistance any way she can…prepping meals, running errands, converting household items into bedpans…the usual. Not only does she aid in relieving Grace’s physical discomfort, but she aims to carry out Grace’s emotional wishes as well: she ensures Grace’s niece gets to hear from her oldest living relative, puts a will in place for Grace, and eases her mind about going to her final resting place.
However, the relationship is far from one sided. We learn that (in addition to what seems like a less than fulfilling marriage), Gloria’s son passed away ten years earlier. Gloria has never gotten over this, and doing hospice care is her way of trying death on for size. As the two grow close, Grace ends up giving Glorie more support than she ever expected.
The two actresses, Joan Westmoreland (Grace) and Renee Gandola (Glorie), are a great pair. Westmoreland plays Grace’s curmudgeon-y moments well (but not so well that we ever find her unpleasant), and Gandola is a ball of energy, ricocheting from stage right to left carrying out Grace’s wishes with sass and spunk. Both are no stranger to the Broadway—Westmoreland has made four appearances there; Gandola starred in the last production they staged, “Life of a Sofa.”
Randall Hickman directs, and we can also attribute the dazzling set concept/decoration to him as well (with construction billed to theatre co-owner Douglas Davis). Grace’s cabin boasts all the quirks that a home occupied by grandma might have, down to colorful quilts and knickknacks.
San Diego’s “biggest little theatre” is truly the place to stage “Grace and Glorie.” The 49-seat space is charming without feeling outdated, and in the eight years Davis and Hickman have been in the space (and the almost four I have been watching and performing there), I have seen the sets become better and better. The ticket prices have also remained the same for the last three years (making this Vista treasure that much more of a treat).
Stay tuned for upcoming Broadway shows: the comedy/farce “I Take This Man,” which opens March 30 and “Trying”; it follows that run on May 11. The Broadway is also presenting a mini-season at the Welk Resort; stay tuned for “The Producers,” starting March 8!
“Grace and Glorie”
Broadway Theatre
340 East Broadway
Vista, CA 92084
No comments:
Post a Comment