I laughed from the time I sat down until the last bow.  Guffawing so hard and for so long, I had to pat my cheeks back to jowls.  Get ready for a hilarious show.  From the first bizarre appearance of Cyrano de Bergerac with his 4” nose, played by Joel Porter, to his last uproarious drunken few minutes before he’s due to go on stage as Cyrano, clad now in shreds of his costume, you’ll wonder when Joel Porter or, as he’s called in this wacky melodrama, George, is going to curl up with a heart attack.  Joel Porter’s gymnastics: face on the floor, rump over head on the sofa, crawling under furniture, running through doors, left me panting and howling.

The Hay family struggles to keep their repertory theatre afloat in Buffalo in the 1950’s against all odds. Television has arrived and stolen their audiences.  Their theatre is dying.  Then three outsiders arrive to complicate their lives even more:  Frank Capra, (mystery director), Rosalind’s fiancé (Jeff Bagley), Eileen the girlfriend (Melissa Elhardt) , and an L.A. attorney (Warren Cain Sr.), just when George and Charlotte Hay are due to go on in their afternoon performance. 

Hands together for Michael Manley, director, who brings this madcap melodrama to stage.  Talk about tight timing, doors slamming, people appearing and disappearing.  The action is faster than a video game.  Stage manager, Greg Beaudry, did a great job.  There’s even a very scary sword fight with real long swords, thanks to fencing choreographer, Andrew Perez.  Hey, how about General Patton appearing in helmet and ribbons: great costuming Gina Threshie.