Player News

Tale of the Allergist’s Wife Early Reviews!

Award-Winning actor, David Kimmelman who plays the role Ira Taub in the Players’ upcoming production of the Tale of the Allergist’s Wife has had a tough time staying in character.  “The show is so funny and my cast members are so great in these roles, that I find myself laughing out loud during most rehearsals.”    Playwright, Charles Busch has created a play that can easily translate to television-comedy.   The play set on the Upper West Side follows the lives of Ira and Marjorie Taub played by award-winning actress (Barbara Douglass) as she tried to maneuver mid-life crisis.

Busch’s play is a reminder of how good comedy should be written—as a series of competitive one-liners that earn real belly-laughs.   In the words of Director Joe Stallone, “the author serves up some of the weightiest, essential personal questions wrapped in neurotic, middle-aged doubt, sauced with a piquant combination of camp and satire, peppered with sitcom implausibility and presented on an open, sterling platter of bold-faced comedy.”

To add to Marjorie’s woes her childhood friend Lee reappears played by long-time Wellesley Player and comedian extraordinaire, Robby Levy.  Fascinating and attractive, Lee seems to have led a life Marjorie could only dream about.  Her “joie de vivre’ lifts Marjorie from the depths, and the fun begins.   Alice Springer, new to the Players is Marjorie’s mom, Frieda who occupies an apartment right down the hall.  Alice portrays Marjorie’s intestinally challenged mother.  Some of her lines are the funniest in an already masterful comedy.    We all have a “Frieda” in our lives and Alice brings every nuance of the character to life.

The role of the Iraqi Doorman at an upscale Manhattan apartment building will be played by Jared Wright, a teacher and actor from Wilmington.  Mohammed, though he may seem simply to be a nice young man, has experience and insights that only a life in the war-torn deserts of Iraq can provide – and he doesn’t bring it to the surface in ways we might recognize.  Just when you think you know a person…..

The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, an adult comedy, will run January 20-29, 2012 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts black box theater in Watertown, Mass. For tickets, please click on our Box Office and choose The Allergist’s Wife. The intimate Black Box space holds only 90 seats. Our first show of the season, sold out every performance. Please order your tickets early for this amazingly funny story with a superb cast.