By Kathryn Olsen
At The Theater at Mount Jordan in Sandy, Steel Magnolias is an infectiously funny production by Sandy Arts Guild. Based on playwright Robert Harling’s own life experiences, this 1985 work began as a short story as a coping mechanism for a grieving artist who also wanted to help his nephew understand the story of his mother, who had died of complications from diabetes. Over the course of ten days, Harling instead penned a masterpiece in which the audience can understand why “laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.” I was only familiar with the 1989 film of the same name, so hoped to find the familiar and the marvelously new in the experience of watching the play on stage.
As Steel Magnolias opens, Annelle Dupuy-Desoto (Sophie Pead) earns her first job in Louisiana’s Chinquapin Parish as a hairdresser. Her new employer, Truvy Jones (Marinda Maxfield) explains that the normal Saturday morning services for neighborhood ladies are to be rearranged for the wedding day of Shelby Eatenton (Angie Nicole). This does not stop three of the ladies from stopping in for services and a front-row seat to the bride’s happiness. The mood turns grim when Shelby’s diabetes flares up and an anxious M’Lynn Eatenton (Amy Wadsworth) reveals that part of her daughter’s stress has its roots in the recent news that it is medically inadvisable for her to have biological children. As the play progresses, Shelby’s announcement of her impending motherhood is colored by concerns over the risks to her health. She is overjoyed with her life as mother to a son, but faces the need for a kidney transplant. The final scene sees the friends struggling to help M’Lynn cope with the death of her daughter and find a path forward in a world where her grandson will grow up without his mother.
The story is built around the love of Shelby and M’lynn and the pair are worth assessing as a unit. The give and take of their relationship feels as if they are connected by a rubber band that is forever stretching before snapping back into place. Nicole’s loving personality in the role is a mimicry of Wadsworth’s sometimes-exasperated devotion in her own. The casting in this production is fantastic and their family unit is largely responsible for that.
Maxfield as Truvy is a rightful centerpiece of the social dynamic. Her lines rarely go without laughter from the audience with such wisdom as “There is no such thing as natural beauty” and “Oh get with it, Clairee. This is the eighties. If you can achieve puberty, you can achieve a past.” On the other hand, she is the heart of the ensemble because of her “strict policy that nobody cries alone in my presence.” Maxfield’s Truvy lights up the entire room while allowing others to have their space when it’s needed and these swings in performance are remarkable.
By contrast, Rebecca Hess is outstanding in her cantankerous role as Ouiser Boudeaux. She has the cynical hostility of a big city girl shoved into a small form with a thick accent and Hess somehow carries this off without actually seeming to be exaggerated.
Wanda Copier plays Clairee Belcher as the “former First Lady” of the parish with incomparable self-importance and poise. While Truvy is ostentatiously kind and Ouiser is raucously bold, Copier’s version of Clairee is one in which she rarely drops a mask of confidence, but can be marvelously vulnerable,
I have to admit that, in the 1989 film, I was not a fan of Annelle. The fact that she is my favorite character in this show highlights the versatile and responsive stage presence of Sophie Pead. Her journey from newcomer to trusted friend is a product of great writing, but the way that her mannerisms evolve within her personality are what make Pead’s performance outstanding.
In considering the production team, credit must first be given to Mindy Curtis, the dialect coach whose hard work made this small cast in Utah sound convincingly like born-and-bred Southern ladies. Costume Design by Ellie DeMie made for an entertaining spectacle as the 1980s fashion was on full display, but also wove its own story around the characters. Cindy Johnson is an invaluable part of this, since the action takes place entirely in a hair salon and her Makeup and Hair Design was on fuller display than it might have been in other works. Props Designer/Set Dresser Jackie Fredrickson and Set Designer Grey Rung create an eclectic on-stage setting with the help of Set Dresser and Charge Artist Maria Brown Fredrickson, supplemented by Rick Marston’s Light Design that even includes overhead salon lights that take a minute to get their act together. Jon Kroff as Sound Designer overlays the interactions on stage with the memorable radio broadcasts and the more infamous attempts of Shelby’s father to scare birds out of the trees with shotgun blasts and firecrackers. The complexity of four seasons and decors are facilitated by Stage Manager/Technical Director Steve George and Assistant Stage Manager Alanna Cottam, along with the crew (Addison Bennett, Maranda Bennett, Alex Benson, Ellie DeMie, Debbie Keel, Melissa Salomonson, and Megan Sternod). Director Nolan Mitchell and Assistant Director Jann LeVitre have helmed a play that never leaves the same hair salon, but brings the world of Harling’s work into the theater.
Steel Magnolias is running through the weekend before Valentine’s Day, so grab everyone you love and come to Sandy for a performance that will only make you stop laughing long enough to make you have a good cry.
Sandy Arts Guild Presents Steel Magnolias; By Robert Harling.
The Theater at Mount Jordan, 9351 Mountaineer Ln, Sandy, UT 84070
Jan 27 – Feb 11, 2023, 7:30 PM
Tickets: $13
Contact: 801-568-6097
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