SECRET COMEDY IS NO SECRET ANYMORE
In The Secret Comedy of Women, directors, writers and stars Barbra Gehring and Linda Klein are two women who you would swear were besties from childhood. They shared similar passions and interests in comedy, crafting and collecting — and they also both kept childhood diaries. One day while reading entries to one another and cracking each other up, the idea for a new show was born.
The mood of the audience at last night’s opening at the Regent Theatre in Arlington — where the play stops through May 19 as part of a national tour — wasn’t dampened by a 30-minute delay due to rather difficult-acting scaffolding; in fact it only heightened the craziness of opening night. The crowd was almost entirely made up of women — with the exception of one husband who was there with his wife, but he was christened an honorary woman for the evening. While it concerns women, I really think it’s a show for everybody. The interactive nature throughout inadvertently involved me — when speaking about their childhood music teacher, they mentioned that he always seemed to choose Neil Diamond songs, and there I am in the front row with my A Beautiful Noise jacket. People sitting in the row behind me kept pointing, making us all laugh.
The set designed by Liza Orzolek is a 1980s teenage girls’ dream bedroom, complete with Shaun Cassidy watching from overhead. Soft dreamy colors fill the room with a touch of fairytale magic, allowing it to morph from bedroom to performance space to movie theater and back to bedroom again. Charles MacLeod‘s lighting enhances the many many fanciful moments (I particularly loved their ballet pas de dux while each pulled on a pair of pantyhose). Costumes by Stephane Loverde and Bobby Kean were pretty basic since the two women spend a good part of the show in their bra and panties; the clothing they do wear as characters is both era and age appropriate. The original toe-tapping ear-worm music by Mike Ruckles contains memorable questions (“Who put the guy in gynecologist?” and “Who put the men in menopause?”) that unfortunately go unanswered. Perhaps they’ll have an answer at another performance; one can only guess.
The Secret Comedy of Women is really very very funny. At the same time, the show provides historical background of women and how strong, brilliant and fearless they are. Women have the power to change the world! I AM WOMAN, HEAR ME ROAR!!!
(Oh, wait, now I know why the audience is mostly female.)
photos courtesy of the artists
The Secret Comedy of Women
national tour
reviewed April 18, 2024, at Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street in Arlington, MA
Wed at 2; Thurs at 2 & 7; Fri at 8; Sat at 2 & 8; Sun at 2
ends on May 19, 2024
for tickets ($35-$65), visit Regent
tour continues; for more dates and cities, visit Girls Only Comedy
next up: Delaware Theatre Company in Wilmington, DE May 29 – June 16, 2024
for group discounts (12+) in any city, call 1.888.264.1788