Playwright Amy Dellagiarino’s script shows considerable promise, but her Theatre of NOTE World Premiere comedy Clownfish would work a whole lot better had the director reined in one particularly over-the-top performance (and those around it in the play’s frenetic midsection).

Friends since their university days, Cassie (Jamila Webb), Erica (Susan Louise O’Connor), and Tod (Sean Michael Boozer) have reunited a decade and a half after graduation to celebrate the marriage of their college chum Katie (Mara Shuster-Lefkowitz) to Jake (Omari Williams), who’s brought along his own school bestie Hunter (Joe Mahon) to serve as his best man.

Unfortunately for all concerned, the couple’s “do it yourself” wedding is scheduled to take place in a mountaintop “Bridal Cabin” just in time for a winter blizzard to send Denver temperatures below freezing and leave the sextet without cell service and with little guarantee that the power will stay on throughout their stay.

Early scenes introduce us to ditzy Erica, hard at work hanging postcards from the “super flammable” wooden “chandelier” she’s confectioning to hang above the bride-and-groom table; sardonic-tongued Cassie, currently occupied with chewing sunflower seeds and spitting them noisily into a paper cup; mild-mannered Hunter, who’s as confused as Erica and Cassie are about a wooden wall ornament that’s been painted to look like a “clownfish”; Tod, who excitedly announces that he’s changed his name from “Todd” to “Tod” (because he got tired of the extra “d” weighing him down); and good-natured bridegroom Jake, who inadvertently reveals that he’s been told some “personal stuff” about Erica’s recent past (i.e., a nervous breakdown and several months spent in a mental institution).

Dellagiarino’s script provides plenty of laughs in early scenes propelled by clearly defined characters and performed with sharp comedic timing, whether it’s Erica and Cassie sparring over the former’s “chandelier” and the latter’s collection of “protective” crystals, or Tod complaining about the second “d” Cassie keeps adding to his name (no matter that Tod and Todd sound exactly alike), or Tod’s presumed talents as a ghost hunter, skills that may come in handy should their mountaintop cabin turn out to be haunted.

So far, so good, and had things proceeded along these lines, I might be raving about Theatre of NOTE’s return to live theater nearly two and a half years after the 2020 shutdown.

Unfortunately, though, it’s at this point that goofball bride-to-be Katie comes barging in, drunk as a skunk and obnoxiously loud as only a loud obnoxious drunk can be.

Now I should tell you that I personally can’t abide being anywhere near someone who’s had a few too many, and Katie has already guzzled at least one bottle of champagne upon arrival.

I might have found Katie less insufferable had director Laura Stribling reined Shuster-Lefkowitz in, but she appears not to have, and the bombed and bombastic bride’s arrival has the regrettable effect of bringing everybody else’s performances up a few too many notches, something that might be less problematic were Clownfish being performed at the Ahmanson but not in a space as intimate as Theatre of NOTE’s.

I did particularly like Williams’ engaging take on Jake and Mahon’s equally amiable Hunter (and wish the latter had been given more to do), and before things go over the top, Boozer and Webb reveal their own comedic flair, with Bill Voorhees popping by agreeably as cabin caretaker Ralph (though I probably could have done without Clownfish’s sudden supernatural twist).

Still, if there’s any reason to catch Theatre of NOTE’s latest, it’s O’Connor’s delightfully quirky star turn as Erica, a performance whose eleventh-hour revelations showcase O’Connor’s still-waters-run-deep dramatic chops.

Voorhees’ rustic log cabin set and his potpourri of properties, Linda Muggeridge’s character-appropriate costumes, and Alex Diaz’s atmosphere-enhancing sound design are all topnotch as is the production’s uncredited lighting design.

Clownfish is produced for Theatre of NOTE by Isaiah Alexander. Niall Sulcer and Jennifer Hugus are co-producers. Travis Moscinski understudies the role of Tod. Peter Newell is stage manager. David Elzer is publicist.

I don’t know if Clownfish would have worked for me had Katie’s drunken antics been played less broadly. Maybe yes. Maybe no. But one thing is certain. I could have done with a lot less of the bride and a lot more of the bridal party.

Theatre of NOTE, 1517 N. Cahuenga, Hollywood.
www.theatreofnote.com

–Steven Stanley
July 15, 2022
Photos: Brad C. Light

Tags: Amy Dellagiarino, Los Angeles Theater Review, Theatre Of NOTE