By VIVIAN DeGAIN
The Oakland Press Jan. 14, 2014
Meadow Brook Theatre may be 650 miles away from New York City, but the phrase “Off Broadway” fits perfectly for MBT this month, and the world premiere of its current production “Harris Cashes Out!”
Written by Londos D’Arrigo, “Harris Cashes Out!” is a comedy of perspectives about Harris Wellborn, a song writer whose fleeting fame on Broadway has left him little but dreams in the golden years of his life.
As the story goes, Harris wrote one musical “Passing Fancy” that opened on Broadway 40 years ago and closed after just one performance. Bad weather, bad timing or bad luck may have shut down the show, and Harris continued to write ditties with some degree of success, enough to scrape by and pay the bills – but only along with the income raised by his wife and their bed and breakfast.
But as this story opens, aging Harris is a recent widower. His wife, their home and their livelihood are gone and his health is not so great either. Is he a one-hit wonder? A has-been? What is his success, the virtue of fame and the cost of his dreams?
At least he is “lucky” enough to have a sister moving him into a rent-free apartment. Rent-free, she says — rundown, he says — and into a neighborhood, like him, long declining. Harris is sour and miserable.
Then what on Earth makes these D’Arrigo lines a comedy?
It is actor Paul Hopper – who’s sour, sarcastic and very funny as Harris.
The curtain opens and we meet Harris and his sister Maggie Bellows debating the value of “his treasure” of cardboard boxes filled with songs, papers, clippings and rejections. Maggie, played by Milica Govich might be sanctimonious, but she is also providing him with a neighbor to check-in on Wellborn and make sure he is taking his meds.
The immature neighbor Kim Sutton, played by Katie Hardy, arrives and turns the story on its head. She appears as part-punk-rocker, part space-cadet, part clown, and her appearance makes the old man shudder and recoil.
Yet Hardy’s ridiculous dress and trippy lines take Harris, and the audience, from stodgy to surprise. She is delightful and bright. Without either of them realizing it, Harris gets startled back into life and Kim gets apprenticed into the realities of life.
When Kim’s conniving boyfriend Jason, played Lucas Wells, discovers Harris’s cache of mementos, he devises a sinister plan to cash-in on Harris’s near-fame. Jason uses the internet to steal and revive Harris’s image, and sell off the old man’s hoard, little by little. Harris is left in the dark. As the “business” gains traction, scheming Jason and reluctant Kim learn how to make even more money – by making Harris posthumous.
How far will they take their little plan?
Meadow Brook Theatre Artistic Director Travis W. Walter directs “Harris Cashes Out!” and the show is humorous, yet so understated the audience is dumbfounded.
Walter led MBT’s production of D’Arrigo’s “Spreading It Around” two years ago.
“Our audiences absolutely loved it,” Walter said. “When Mr. D’Arrigo contacted us and asked us if we would like the opportunity to do the very first production of his new comedy — we jumped at the chance! It is both an honor and a challenge to bring something new to life.”
“Harris Cashes Out!” could certainly reflect D’Arrigo’s autobiography to some degree. For more than 30 years, D’Arrigo wrote for Phyllis Diller, Lily Tomlin and Joan Rivers. We can only imagine how old meets new in so much of his life.
“Harris Cashes Out!” is a fine comparison of old verses new, of image verses reality, of meaning verses context. The humor is blatant at times and subtle at others, ranges from smirk to smart.
The MBT’s staging is complete at the end of the production when Walter reprises a MBT favorite: Before we know the play is ended, all four actors return onstage in costume from “Singing in the Rain” and do a choreographed dance to stop the show.
This comedy fits on this stage at this time and this reviewer thinks it will fit this audience of all ages.
Maybe this distance from Meadow Brook Theatre to Broadway isn’t so far after all.
Terry W. Carpenter is the stage manager for this “Harris Cashes Out!” with set design by Brian Kessler, costumes by Liz Goodall, lighting by Reid G. Johnson and sound by Mike Duncan.