The University’s theater department continues its fall season this weekend with multiple performances of “The Last Night of Ballyhoo.”
“Ballyhoo” received the Best Play Award by the American Theatre Critics Association, The Outer Critics Circle and The Drama League. It was also awarded the 1997 Tony for Best Play. Its playwright Alfred Uhry is best known for the play (and subsequent Oscar-winning screenplay) “Driving Miss Daisy.”
“Ballyhoo” portrays a complex time for the Frietags, a high-society Jewish family living in Atlanta, Georgia. December 1939 sees the town a buzz over the release of “Gone with the Wind” while, Hitler’s armies have just invaded Poland. The Jewish social event of the year, the Ballyhoo dance, is approaching and Boo fears her twenty-something daughter Lala is running out of time to secure a worthy suitor. Trouble ensues when Boos’ brother Adolph invites his business associate Joe to a family dinner. Boo, already disapproving of Joe’s Brooklyn origin and Eastern European heritage, becomes all the more incensed as Joe becomes enamored with Lala’s cousin Sunny.
The result is a family struggle demonstrating some of the challenges in balancing social expectations as a minority during a trying time. Despite taking on the serious issues of anti-Semitism and the social hierarchy of the South, the play manages to remain an uplifting blend of drama, comedy and romance.
“Our goal is to find the deeper cultural issues in the play and expose them while still providing entertainment,” said the play’s director, Carrie Lee. “It’s a feel good story with something about each character that is easy to relate to.”
The script’s use of considerable situational humor helps maintain levity while still getting across the seriousness of the times. As cast member Chris Williams suggests, “It’s all about identity and how we as Americans fit into America and the world, just as how the individuals in the play fit into their family as well as the Southern Jewish experience.”
The play will be performed in the Eve Marie Saint Theater in University Hall. Opening night is Friday, Oct. 5 with the curtain rising at 8 p.m. Remaining performances for the weekend will be Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. After a week off for fall break, the play returns for an 8 p.m. shows on Friday, Oct. 19 and Saturday, Oct. 20. The Sunday matinee is at 2 p.m. Ticket information is available by calling the ticket office at 372-2719. Student and group rates are available.
