Find funny in three local theater productions: “Laughs in Spanish,” “The Death of Napoleon” and “Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson”
Press materials hinted that this tale of a little-big man furious that his reign has come to an end might resonate with other petty if dismayingly consequential tyrants. But this Napoleon needs no modern antecedent to hold his own and earn the audience’s amused attention.
There were rhymes made up about Napoleon and Betsy upon hearing her father would be briefly hosting the prisoner . And that Bee is not a figment of his lonesomeness but the symbol he chose for the empire. And, because this wee comedy is about huge power trips, there will be roses along with that ongoing riff on bread and national identity. Focaccia or baguette, anyone?Danielle Alonzo, left, Luis Vega, and Maggie Bofill laugh it up in playwright Alexis Scheer’s smartly funny “Laughs in Spanish.
It takes but a moment to glean that she would be tightly wound even if her show hadn’t been heisted. She barks orders at Caro , accuses her of stealing the paintings, and then switches on a dime to a firm, flat voice when she picks up the phone. This is an amusing nod to the shift in demeanor and tone that is a gift of being Latino in white spaces. And although the character’s ability to turn on a dime — to “code-switch” — runs throughout the play, this is not really that sort of race play.
Depending on who you are — an audience member or her only child — Estella’s grand and charming entrance comes either as a sun-dappled breeze or has just sucked all the air out of the room. “Laughs” is very much about a mother-and-child reunion that may or may not end well. A star mom and quasar daughter are bound to have moments of fission. Mariana harbors a list of grievances. Estella needles Mariana about her love life.
In a script note, Scheer indicates the overall vibe: “Everyone should always be a moment away from dancing.” Director Lisa Portes took that to heart and keeps things fluid with a smooth mastery of the play’s swaying rhythms.
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