{"id":17469,"date":"2016-02-26T00:22:50","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T08:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=17469"},"modified":"2016-02-25T21:33:01","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T05:33:01","slug":"join-the-wedding-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/02\/26\/join-the-wedding-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Join the wedding party"},"content":{"rendered":"

Left to right, Laura Luongo (Mindy),\u00a0Melanie Preston (Georgeanne), Michelle Weisbom (Meredith), Devon Oakander\u00a0(Tripp), Christine Reinfort (Trisha) and Yvette Benson (Frances) in Metro Theatre\u2019s production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress<\/em>. (photo by Tracy-Lynn Chernaske)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The wedding reception thrown by Metro Theatre Vancouver will be one of the most engaging and fun that you\u2019ve attended \u2013 without the hangover or other morning-after regrets. Well, not necessarily, anyway.<\/p>\n

Five Women Wearing the Same Dress<\/em> is at Metro to March 12 and it is well worth seeing. Not only will you be supporting a wonderful theatre space but some very entertaining theatre, as well.<\/p>\n

Two Jewish community members are among the five women at this over-the-top Knoxville, Tenn., wedding \u2013 Michelle Weisbom as Meredith and Melanie Preston as Georgeanne. Meredith is the younger sister of the bride, Tracy, who none of the bridesmaids, including Meredith, like. Georgeanne was a friend of Tracy\u2019s in high school but Tracy\u2019s then fianc\u00e9, Tommy, caused a lasting rift. And Tommy is a recurrent topic among the bridesmaids \u2013 he is what you would call a real shmuck.<\/p>\n

We meet the bridesmaids after the wedding, just as the reception at Tracy\u2019s parents\u2019 home is starting. The women are decked out in teal sleeveless taffeta dresses that wouldn\u2019t look half bad but for the huge sash with a bow that wraps about the butt, and the hat with a bow to match.<\/p>\n

Frances (Yvette Benson) is the first to take refuge in Meredith\u2019s bedroom. Tracy and Meredith\u2019s cousin, Frances is a believer, and every time she is offered a drink, a smoke, a joint, she declines, giving as her reason, \u201cI\u2019m a Christian.\u201d One of the best exchanges in the play is between Frances and Trisha (Christine Reinfort), another former high school friend of the bride, who describes herself as \u201cthe reigning queen of the bad rep.\u201d They argue about the difference between having the right to an opinion versus imposing your opinion on others, and Frances\u2019 accusation at one point, \u201cThat is secular humanism talking!\u201d is hilarious \u2013 and thought-provoking \u2013 in context.<\/p>\n

Rounding out the bridal party is the groom\u2019s sister, Mindy (Laura Luongo). A lesbian whose coming out was almost universally poorly received, except by her cousin Tripp, Mindy is high-strung and somewhat defensive. She is also clumsy and a compulsive eater, at least in stressful situations, which this wedding is for her and her fellow bridesmaids.<\/p>\n

The one man in the cast is Tripp (Devon Oakander), who we meet late in the play, though we hear about him earlier, as Trisha finds him attractive and talks about him with the other women. She tries to resist his charms, as she has slept with many, many men to date and been hurt many times. The scene between Trisha and Tripp is delightful, though it is one spot at which the play loses a bit of its momentum. It is unclear why playwright Alan Ball (whose credits include American Dream, True Blood, Six Feet Under<\/em>) needed have a male character in the play at all. Perhaps to defend his sex? Show clearly that there are some good men out there?<\/p>\n

The only criticisms of Metro\u2019s Five Women<\/em> lie with the writer. He touches on a number of themes \u2013 religion, homophobia, AIDS, sexual abuse, drug use, race, wealth, etc. \u2013 and the points are sometimes lost. As well, there are a few moments where the story drags a bit. But director Don Briard has done a fantastic job with this production overall. All of the actors have just enough of a Southern twang that the play is well-situated geographically, and the set of the play, which premi\u00e8red in 1993, puts it firmly in its temporal space. The actors have a great chemistry and interact with each other convincingly. You really will feel as if you\u2019re the sixth bridesmaid in the room \u2013 though much more comfortably dressed.<\/p>\n

Five Women is recommended for audiences age 16+. For tickets ($24\/$21, two for $35 every Thursday), call 604-266-7191 or visit metrotheatre.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right, Laura Luongo (Mindy),\u00a0Melanie Preston (Georgeanne), Michelle Weisbom (Meredith), Devon Oakander\u00a0(Tripp), Christine Reinfort (Trisha) and Yvette Benson (Frances) in Metro Theatre\u2019s production of Five Women Wearing the Same Dress. (photo by Tracy-Lynn Chernaske) The wedding reception thrown by Metro Theatre Vancouver will be one of the most engaging and fun that you\u2019ve attended […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[5387,256,255,5388,3251],"class_list":["post-17469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-alan-ball","tag-melanie-preston","tag-metro-theatre","tag-michelle-weisbom","tag-weddings"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}