Robert Harling’s late 1980s dramatic comedy Steel Magnolias is an inherently social stage play. Audiences hang out with a group of women at a hair salon in small town Louisiana. It’s the type of show that excels in tiny studio theater spaces. Although Sunset Playhouse’s main stage is considerably larger than a small town hair salon, their production does a remarkable job of delivering warmth and southern charm into the relative immensity of the Furlan Auditorium.
Harling doesn’t make the natural progression of drama easy. The script covers a three-year time frame. Once things have finally settled-in at the end of a scene, the play is on to the next jump forward. Director Bryce Lord has fostered a naturally pleasant and sociable atmosphere that keeps the drama flowing with a natural, earthbound rhythm. The ensemble renders an open and supportive environment for the characters. Amber Regan is charming as Truvy Jones. She owns and operates the beauty parlor. As the show opens, she has just hired Annelle, a woman who only recently moved into town. Ruth Arnell delivers a casual mystery in the role that develops into something more as the character settles into a wide-ranging transformation that takes place over the course of the play. Anna Lee Murray is admirably vulnerable as Shelby, a woman with Type 1 diabetes who conquers a number of things as one scene becomes another in the steady march of time. Linda Wirth epitomizes the gruff-but-lovable cliche with remarkably comic grace as the ornery, old Ouiser Boudreaux who periodically drops by Truvy’s place.
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Through Feb. 6 at the Furlan Auditorium, 800 Elm Grove Road. For tickets call (262) 782-4430 or visit sunsetplayhouse.com
