As St. Albert Dinner Theatre’s winter season picks up, the local troupe is serving up another batch of comedies with side dishes of sass, the supernatural and large portions of hapless conniving.
In Daddy’s Girl, by writer Gary Ray Stapp, which opens Feb. 7, you won’t have to travel to Hogwarts Castle to see talking portraits.
Meet Benard Mulvoovy, owner of Maudie’s Diner. His deceased wife of 25 years has made herself at home as a talking portrait on the diner wall and enlists Michael, a mischievous angel, to reunite Benard with their long-lost daughter.
As a trickster Michael is up for a few laughs and presents Benard with two Elizabeths, each with the same birthdate and both were adopted from the same orphanage.
It’s up to Benard to discover his real daughter. But there’s a major problem. He doesn’t like either woman. E.L. is a cold, career-oriented reporter determined to learn Benard’s secret recipe and Lizzy has a split personality of sorts.
Complicating the wacko dynamics are an absent-minded waitress, a super shy PhD student, a yin-yang geriatric duo, a motorcycle mama, and a desperate woman who has spent years trying to marry Benard.
Barely Heirs
David Lassig’s Barely Heirs, opening April 11, follows the antics of a woman who pretends to be married in order to receive a sumptuous inheritance. Jane stands to inherit a significant fortune from her beloved uncle’s estate upon the sixth-month anniversary of her marriage.But she’s not married and the lawyer is coming over to sign documents. A fake marriage would be a problem, but her friend Tom has agreed to pretend to be her husband for the afternoon.
But more than a few obstacles arise. Tom’s wife, Claire, shows up. And there’s the pool boy and a police officer who keep dropping by. The scheme might work if she keeps an interior decorator, nurse and ex-boyfriend away from her snoopy mother.
With so many intrusions, will Jane fool the lawyer or will she lose the entire enchilada?
Both dinner theatre productions take place at Kinsmen Banquet Hall, 47 Riel Dr. Doors at 6 p.m., buffet at 6:45 p.m. and showtime at 8 p.m. Theatre tickets are $60 regular and $55 for students/seniors. Call 780-222-0102 or visit www.stalberttheatre.com.
