Displaying items by tag: Frankie Leo Bennett

I've been a devoted fan of David Cerda's Hell in a Handbag Productions for so many of the 23 years they have been in Chicago, and I still get the same great feelings whenever I attend one of their award-winning camp comedy/musical shows.

Having grown up in Miami, Florida with my Golden Girl mom, Joanne, during the years in which the TV show was on the air I have a special affinity for all of their Golden Girls adaptations, especially the Christmas Editions. 

The plotline for The Golden Girls Save Christmas - A Lost Parody Episode at Center on Halsted involves a very sexy Blanche who boffs old Saint Nick until his back gives out and the whole gang has to band together to save Christmas. This show is just a nonstop funny reminder that holidays are for loving up your family, friends, and lovers like any other Holiday. 

This year's Christmas production directed by Frankie Leo Bennett features original cast members David Cerda as Dorothy, Grant Drager as Blanche, Ed Jones as Rose, and Ryan Oates as Sophia as the fearsome geriatric foursome - and they are as spot on as ever in their expert renditions of all four great actresses in the TV show. The fantastic performances from these four original cast members are reason enough for me to keep returning year after year for all of the Golden Girls Handbag shows. 

With the leads taking on the famous TV roles - Cerda as Bea Arthur’s Dorothy the dry, cool anchor of comedy, Drager as the flirtatious unabashedly insatiable Blanche, played by so well by Rue Mclanahan and Ed Jones as the naive, scene stealer as Betty White’s Rose, the Handbag company goes way beyond parody and even beyond camp into a realm of musical theatre genius. This talented cast is compelling and endearing to watch as one feels that you are at times witnessing a live theatrical performance from these three grand dames of comedy!

There are fantastic cameos and lots of big laughs and songs coming from the supporting cast this year from Eustace Allen, Kelly Bolton, Terry McCarthy, Michael Rashid, Scott Sawa, Tyler Anthony Smith, Danne W. Taylor, and Robert Williams.

Hell in a Handbag Golden Girls shows always begin with the whole audience singing the theme song, "Thank you for being a friend," which perfectly sets up the audience for an evening of lighthearted, sentimental, yet bawdy, good adult fun. 

If you are one of those people who delight in period costumes from the 80's you will LOVE all of the fantastic hair makeup and costumes and shoes in this show. The production team includes Madeline Felauer (Costume Design), Liz Syd Genco (Make-Up Design) and Keith Ryan (Wig Designer). 

Hell in a Handbag Productions’ The Golden Girls Save Xmas also has a generous intermission for drinking and catching up with your friends that begins and ends with terrific full cast song and dance numbers like the great tune “You Can't Stop Christmas! It's Coming!”, so you feel you've gotten a nice full night out of socializing and entertainment!  

Be sure to pose for a picture with the fully costumed cast of stars after the show and your donation will be given to AIDS-related charities. Also, mark your calendars for Peep Show, the team’s yearly fundraiser on December 10^th at Center on Halsted to support Hell in A Handbag Productions, a Chicago classic camp favorite theater company that keeps on creating compassionate, funny, camp extravaganzas with live singers - not impersonators - who maintain the highest level of comedic expertise! For more information on Peep Show, click here.

The world premeire The Golden Girls Save Xmas - A Lost Parody Episode by Artistic Director David Cerda is being performed at Center on Halsted’s The Hoover-Leppen Theatre through December 30^th. Tickets are just $42 if purchased in advance and $45 at the door, and $36 for group rates of 10 or more. For tickets and/or more show information, visit www.handbagproductions.org.    

Highly recommended!

I've seen Hell in a Handbag’s production of “Christmas Dearest” before and the dazzling funny and yet touching show has now officially become part of my true Holiday tradition. The reason being is that it takes the classic tale "A Christmas Carol" and throws some six-inch, size 11 heeled, f*ck me pumps on it, tosses back a martini, lights up an extra-long cigarette and says "We love you just the way you are”.  It is Christmas time - the time for Love and Acceptance is really here happening in Chicago! 

David Cerda wrote the script and the book for this adorable musical theater piece and I am continuously blown away by his huge amount of talent. 

Always one to give his shows 110 percent of his energy, no matter how many hats he has to wear at once, I must say Cerda was absolutely on FIRE with the spirit of Joan Crawford at the opening night performance!! Joan has been asked to play "Mary, the Mother of God” on the big screen and Cerda plays her searingly with beauty, ugliness and star charisma. 

Crawford is cheap and cruel and wants to force the entire cast to work on Christmas Day.  Soon the witchy Crawford is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Even the actual "Mary, Queen of Heaven" comes down from her  Royal Heavenly Throne to advise Crawford that she better shape up or she'll be dead soon, along with her dying career.

Hell in a Handbag's company of regulars are essential including the ever-reliably hysterical Ed Jones as Crawford's empathetic assistant/slave. New additions also add punch such as recent Northwestern graduate Frankie Leo Bennett as Crawford's now infamous biographer daughter, Christina, and Roosevelt University undergrad Alexa Castelvecchi who has a great voice and  lovely stage presence as a young Crawford who is shown to have once been a caring, generous young girl before "Hollywood casting couches” and politics ruined her psychologically. 

Also deserving of extra special mention is "Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come” in the form of Bette Davis, played to laughable perfection by Caitlin Jackson dressed in a fantastically dead on and literally dead "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?" costume. 

The hysterical and perfectly tailored costumes for every single character by Kate Setzer Kamphausen, and equally indispensable wigs designed by Keith Ryan were colorful and perfectly dated in the most kitschy way possible for maximum laughs. 

Now there are some great theater companies in Chicago where the founder or artistic director would not be missed if absent from a single production but David Cerda is not one of them. Cerda displayed his complete control over the cast and audience when he reached for a martini accidentally placed a few feet too far from his chaise and got the biggest laugh from the audience when he addressed us with a droll improvised "Eight weeks of rehearsal...". 

I highly recommend this darling, genuinely laugh out loud funny and open-minded musical production to everyone ready to rock and possibly drink their way through their heartbroken holidays! Christmas Dearest is being performed at Mary’s Attic in Andersonville through December 29th. For tickets and/or more show information visit www.handbagproductions.org.