King 'O the Moon
by Tom Dudzick
Join us for a warm, touching, funny, thoughtful holiday treat.
Last holiday season, Stage 3 Theatre Company introduced us to the wacky Pazinski clan in “Over the Tavern”. It was like an episode of ‘Father Knows Best’ turned inside out and upside down. A hilarious and nostalgic look at family life in the 50’s – if your family happened to resemble a three-ring circus.
There is cause for joy this year because the Pazinkis are back in Tom Dudzick’s comedy “King o’ the Moon”, opening at Stage 3 on Nov. 17.
The Chicago Sun-Times called “King o’ The Moon” “An all-American Musical comedy without the music”. The Hamburg Sun said it “offers audiences thick slices of warmth, humor, compassion, social conscience and family struggles”.
‘Moon’ picks up the family saga 10 years later, smack dab in the turbulent 60’s. On the very day mankind is about to land on the moon, the Pazinskis are just trying to land on their feet.
The tribe has gathered together for the fifth annual memorial service for deceased dad, Chet, and deliver a ‘State of the Family’ address. Wisecracking Rudy, the bane of Sister Clarissa when he was 12, is AWOL from the seminary and has become involved with the anti-Vietnam War movement. Fiesty brother Eddie has joined the Army and will ship out to Vietnam the very next day. Twinkie chomping sister Annie has problems of her own – a husband who pays more attention to his toy trains than to her. Mentally challenged brother Georgie is still the heart and soul of it all.
Though Dad and Sister Clarissa are gone, they are replaced by Eddie’s new wife, Maureen, the former ‘Easy-Make Blake’ and quirky yet lovable Walter, the tavern’s bartender.
Finally, mother Ellen is still doing her best to run the tavern, hold the family together and maybe find a little happiness for herself.
Artistic director Don Bilotti, who also directs, is excited about the production. “I love being able to pick up the characters’ lives 10 years later.”, he says. “It’s so much fun to see how they turned out. As the characters have grown up, the issues that they face are also more mature and ‘Moon’ is meatier and more moving and is as funny on different levels than ‘Tavern’. It’s like the difference between my Davy Crockett fringe buckskin jacket when I was 5 and my hippie fringe buckskin jacket when I was eighteen. Wearing one, I was a carefree kid playing make-believe. Wearing the other, I was beginning to face the real issues of a grown-up world.”
“But”, Bilotti continues, “it certainly is not necessary to have seen “Over the Tavern” to thoroughly enjoy ‘King of the Moon’.”
Playwright Tom Dudzick, fast becoming known as ‘the Catholic Neil Simon’, also penned Stage 3’s hit “Greetings!”
Heading the cast, fresh from spellbinding audiences as Mrs. Kendall in “The Elephant Man” is Maryann Curmi ,who reprises her role as Ellen, the tough, loving mother. Watching Curmi, it’s easy to see where the Pazinskis get their senses of humor.
As Walter, recently transplanted stage veteran John Bell gets a chance to unveil his considerable comic chops to local audiences.
Kooky sister Annie is played by Lara Ford who has been gracing local stages since her teens.
True to its tradition of finding and developing new talents, Stage 3 has cast Ben Adriano, Sean Locke, Cisco Garcia and Christina Roberts, all making their theatrical debuts.
Set design will be by Ron Cotnam, Lighting Design by Matthew Leamy and Costume design by Ronda Hanson.
This production is made possible in part by Associate Producers David and Marilyn Holton.