THEATER: Fat Pig

FAT PIG is currently playing on the Cabaret Stage at Millbrook Playhouse and the author, Neil LaBute, has a definite point to make.

Tiffany Green and Nicholas Wilder
Photo courtesy of Erika Courtney

Tom has met Helen and fallen in love. Tom’s co-workers, Carter and Jeanie, only see that Helen is a plus-size woman, not that she makes Tom happy.  In a world obsessed with being thin, the people at work go beyond being rude to being openly cruel to the new couple.

Thanks to the play being very well cast, this is a surprisingly good production. Three of the cast members are very familiar to us and it was great to see yet another side of their talents.

Tiffany Green was perfect as Helen. Tiffany has shown that she is able to sing, dance, direct, and act -- all exceptionally well. The role demanded the ability to show a combination of great self-confidence and vulnerability. Tiffany carried it all off with ease.

Nicholas Wilder played Tom so well that the ending of the play was right in character. This is a role that demands that the audience sees beneath the surface of a character. Watching Nicholas in his earlier roles this season made this performance even more impressive.

Again we saw a different side to Ali Kresch. Jeannie is a bit of a stretch for an actress; she goes from being needy to cruelly angry to being the one who may understand the relationship between Helen and Tom. I am beginning to believe that Ali can do it all.

Jeff Blim was a new face and his role as Carter was fresh, energetic, and convincingly cruel. He spoke for all of the people who judge on outward appearances and as a result had some brilliant lines.

The show has some very funny lines, but most of them make you shudder because we have heard them used to hurt people on the playground and in the workplace.

FAT PIG has a lot of reasons to recommend it; they are Tiffany Green, Nicholas Wilder, Ali Kresch, and Jeff Blim.

FAT PIG will run until August the 7th. It will be followed in the Cabaret with Ain’t Misbehaving. The Odd Couple opens on the Main Stage on August the 4th.

BOOK REVIEW: Anansi Boys

Bear with me. We are about to discuss a book by Neil Gaiman. Critics have used words like droll, original, and audacious to describe Gaiman’s work. I agree with all of that, plus, his plots defy summaries.

ANANSI BOYS is Fat Charlie’s story. Charlie Nancy is engaged to a young lady whose mother can not stand him, works for the worst boss imaginable, and is not fat. His life is about to change drastically.

Fat Charlie’s father had named him Fat twenty years ago and when Fat Charlie’s father named something it stuck. In fact Mr. Nancy had made a habit of doing things that were an embarrassment to his son over the years. Even his death was in many ways an embarrassment; he fell off a stage while singing at a karaoke night.

At the funeral, Fat Charlie learns that his father was actually the trickster god Anansi, the spider god. He also learns, to his surprise, that to summon the brother, that he knew nothing about, all he has to do is ask a spider.

The tall, good-looking stranger who appears on his doorstep is nothing like Fat Charlie; he is more like their father. Brother Spider is the very spirit of rebellion. He is able to turn reality to his own whims and he is determined to add some fun to Fat Charlie’s life. He adds a body in a secret safe, trips to other worlds, birds worthy of a Hitchcock film, magic, and a lost girlfriend. Then the plot gets out of control.

ANANSI BOYS takes the old trickster tales -- think Bre’r Rabbit and the Tar Baby - and adds some very modern twists. You will never see spiders in the same way.

Neil Gaiman may not be the author for everybody, but if you are willing to suspend you sense of reality, he is a fun author. As outrageous as his characters are, you still like them and want to see them turn out well. Sometimes it takes awhile to be aware of some serious comments hidden in his humor. Gaiman is a true original worthy to be compared to Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse.