Theater review "Liebowitz Sisters" provides lovely change

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By Ruby Nancy | Friday, September 8, 2006 11:33 PM CDT | () comments

Getting to attend a musical starring three large women is a pretty rare occurrence in musical theater.

It is a business where most female actors over a certain size get cast mostly as ancient relatives, hateful mother-in-laws, nameless townspeople, servants and the like. The closer to (or further past) a double-digit dress size you are, the more likely you are to play the older relative or lowly employee or other foil of the female lead, and the less likely you are to be the lead — or to be cast at all.

Enter “The Lovely Liebowitz Sisters,” a musical revue about three plus-sized performers, where every female role is for a larger woman. And I don’t even mean for regular-sized women, either, but specifically for big women. Every heartfelt solo, every comic line, every great wisecrack, every gorgeous harmony, all written for the big sisters who so rarely get to show what they can really do. What a great idea! (None of them are anyone’s love interest, true, and none of them are particularly bright, but, hey, they do have jobs and can sing — so we’ll take our victories wherever we can get them, right?)

Imagine the disappointment, then, of so many frustrated actors (like yours truly) who almost never got the big parts or the big songs because we didn’t “look right” or fit into the tiny rented costumes, to discover that Troupe America, the Twin Cities-based production company that has brought this show back to Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, could only find one woman the right size for these big roles. I mean, I’ve been to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, and I’m thinking, “Surely there are two more somewhere?”

Instead, we see a couple of regular-sized performers in two of the roles, decked out to make them look larger. One even walks and dances in what appears to be someone’s idea of how a bigger person moves – an insulting “impersonation” that seems to have something to do with standing and walking as though wearing a gigantic diaper, and that involves being out of breath from the slightest exertion.

If you can mostly overlook this issue, however — or don’t care one way or another – it is possible to find plenty to enjoy about this “Liebowitz Sisters.”

The singing is fine, for one thing, and there are a number of songs which show off tight, rich harmonies between the three leads. Judi Gronseth is the effervescent center of almost every production number, playing the baton-twirling Maxine with a sweet liveliness that is thoroughly enjoyable. She is a great singer with a beautiful voice, and — with the exception of the (deliberately awful, I think) first act costume, which flatters no one — she looks really good, too. Her character is something of a ditz, but the charm Gronseth infuses the performance with is an endearing quality that makes her work something special.

As the older sister LaVonne, whose inclination toward sharing her charms with a number of gentlemen is a running gag, Susan Brodin is still more charming than sultry. She does often lend her voice a sinful-sounding, dusky quality that has its own appeal, but her vocals are all top-notch. Her second-act rendition of “Harbor Lights,” the show’s single best performance, is a softly glorious work crafted with an expert subtlety that is absolutely, heartrendingly gorgeous.

As Patty, the gawky sister with a knack for hamming it up, Suz Adamson does earn laughs, but it is her gentle “God Bless America” that is her best work and turns out to be the biggest crowd-pleaser, too.

Timothy Shawn plays Yannis, the quirky emcee who introduces the family act and occasionally performs with them, and his scene-stealing work — a mix of bad punch lines and some hilarious dancing that you have to see to believe — is both strangely sweet and totally entertaining.

These singers are backed by some great musicians, too, led by music director Kyle Nelson, who does plenty of fine piano work. Both Craig Clough, who tears up the bass, and John Ladson II, who delivers great licks on the drums, do superbly on the mix of sound effects and music that this show includes.

Live music onstage — of this quality, at least — really lends something special to the overall performance of the entire cast, and the result sounds great.

The array of second-act costumes do offer better looks — particularly to Gronseth, whose outfits (including, especially, a great red satin dress) seem to fit and flatter her so much more than the ones worn by other performers — but, like the hokey set, we must keep in mind that the set and costumes belong to the Krakatoa Lounge, in Cleveland, circa 1945.

In that light, and assuming that Maxine is the costumer, the clothing all looks as though it should.

Despite the size issue, this show — which features a collection of the best World War II-era music — is entertaining. While fans of this music are probably the ones who will love it the most, it’s a lightly-done musical revue that most can enjoy.

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IF YOU GO

What: “The Lovely Liebowitz Sisters: Live From the Krakatoa Lounge, 1945”

When: Through Sept. 16; performances begin with buffets at 5:45 p.m. Wednesdays, Fridays-Saturdays; 11:45 a.m. Wednesdays and Fridays; and 3:45 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 10.

Where: Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, 1828 3rd Ave., Rock Island

How much: $41.50 Friday-Sunday, $39 Wednesday evening, $36.50 matinees

Information: (309) 786-7733, Ext. 2