'bobbi Boland'

It's no insult to this new play by Nancy Hasty to say that it not only takes place in 1967 but also feels like it was written back then. An old-fashioned comic melodrama about the threatened marriage of a former Southern beauty queen and her former high school football star husband, "Bobbi Boland" manages to alternate poignancy and laughs with surprisingly effective results until it lapses into bathos toward the end. Receiving a low-budget but high-quality off-Broadway production starring the author in the title role, the play is likely to delight the matinee lady crowd.

Bobbi Boland (Hasty) is a former Miss Florida whose luster has dimmed since her crowning 20 years earlier, though not in her own mind. Living with her loving husband, Roger (Gregg Henry), in a modest home in suburban Crestview, Fla., she spends her time acting in local theatrical productions and tutoring young women in the ways of charm and etiquette. Her life is changed dramatically one night with the visit of Roger's boss George (David Little) and his much younger trophy wife, the vivacious, miniskirted Kim (Tanya Clarke).

Although the visiting couple seem to adore each other, it soon becomes apparent that their marriage is in trouble and that George has started to physically abuse his waifish wife. Caught in the middle, the good-hearted Roger attempts to help Kim while simultaneously trying not to alienate his employer. But his friendship with the younger woman wakes him up to the essential inadequacies of his marriage to a woman far more concerned with her image than with nurturing their relationship.

Although the play could probably just as easily take place in current times, its '60s setting provides context for its portrait of women struggling with societal roles and comic texture in its depiction of the era's more outlandish visual aspects. The plotting is little more than functional — the second-act confrontations between Roger and Bobbi seem particularly familiar — but the evening is saved by the often-sharp comic writing and well-observed characterizations. Everyone onstage, including such minor characters as a flamboyant theater director (Byron Loyd) and Bobbi's young charm student (Holiday Segal), resonates with authenticity. The character of Roger, who could easily have lapsed into caricature, is particularly well-drawn; simple but not stupid and slavishly devoted to his wife but maintaining his masculine independence, he is a surprisingly complex figure who generates tremendous audience sympathy, especially as personified by the superb Henry. The playwright, who stepped into the title role at the last minute, also does wonderfully as Bobbi, perfectly mixing the character's vulnerability and braggadocio.

BOBBI BOLAND

Presented by Laine Valentino

in association with MakePeace Theatre

Playwright Nancy Hasty

Director Evan Bergman

Scenic designer John Farrell

Lighting designer Steve Rust

Costume designer Jill Kliber

Sound designer Cynthia Tuohy

Cast:

Bobbi Boland Nancy Hasty

Susan Johnson Holiday Segal

Roger Boland Gregg Henry

Sam White Byron Loyd

George McGowan David Little

Kim McGowan Tanya Clarke