My overall impression
There’s one thing about MARY OF THE AVENUE – it makes you think about those folks that you drive by or walk by almost every day on the street – and don’t really see. That’s a very good thing!
Mary and her ‘peeps’ are PEOPLE. You find yourself wondering who they are – how they got there – will they ever be anywhere else? In some cases, you find out – the rest is left to your imagination . . .
Having seen the show prior to its FRINGE debut, I have to say I preferred the richness of the prior production, rather than the ‘streamlined’ version here at FRINGE. Lovely little bits of business have given way to a more stylized ensemble – but they still manage to show us who they are!
Mary Ellen Gridley simply IS Mary. Marianne Davis Rago plays Carrie with such commitment, that her tears become your own. Michael Shaughnessy, as the Mayor, is as oily and self-admiring as they come – in a GOOD way! And there could never be another ‘Florida’ like Louise Miller – frivolous yet salt-of-the-earth all at the same time.
MARY might need a bit of polishing here and there – in the book perhaps – but she deserves it. She’s got good bones!
