 "Photo: Priscilla Reyna-Ovalle")
Those who can’t get enough of “Mrs. Doubtfire,” “Some Like It Hot” and other scripts involving guys trying to walk around in heels, can take in “Leading Ladies,” by playwright Ken Ludwig.
Ludwig’s play, which debuted in 2004, opens Oct. 1, directed by theater and speech Professor Jim Mammarella and featuring four theater sophomores.
“Leading Ladies” is a farce — a comedy with unlikely or extravagant situations, disguises and mistaken identity — set in York, Pa., in 1958. Two starving, British “Shakespearean” actors, Jack and Leo, hear of a woman searching for her two nephews to leave them her fortune.
They hatch a scheme to pose as her nephews only to discover that they really need to be posing as her nieces, Maxine and Stephanie. Leo finds himself falling for the woman’s actual niece, Meg, who is already engaged to the local minister, and the minister becomes increasingly skeptical of the actors’ behavior, even though he has his own plans for Meg’s fortune.
Romantic entanglements and odd shenanigans shake things up as the two actors find themselves filling out their brassieres.
Steven Reyna, who plays the Rev. Duncan Wooley, Meg’s fiance, said “Leading Ladies” is the funniest play he has ever acted in. Reyna has performed onstage since high school.
Loretta De La Torre plays Meg, the heir to the sought-after fortune.
She said the cast is expecting a lot of laughs. “It is just a flat-out comedy. There are situations the characters find themselves in that are very far out there,” De La Torre said.
“When you step into the play, you see all these funny characters and situations, and it’s like ‘Oh, God, where is this going to take me,’ but there is actually a lot of romance going on,” she said.
De La Torre said Meg is just going along for the ride with the two dragsters. “She’s either very gullible because she’s never experienced anything like this or she’s trusting of situations,” she said.
Acting as Leo, who is posing as Maxine, Sean Minogue said he is grateful for what the role brings out in him as an actor playing an actor.
“He’s a really funny guy. He’s an actor, and I like that about him,” Minogue said. “He’s got a lot of energy, and I have a lot of energy to use toward it.”
Minogue said that Maxine starts to become a character all her own, adding to the chaos that most farces entail. “It’s interesting to delve into that ‘womanly realm,’” he said, adding that he hopes that while wearing high heels “not to break a leg in the process, literally.”
John Belcher plays Jack, posing as Stephanie, who always follows Leo’s lead, even if it means putting on a pair of heels.
“He cares so much about his best friend, Leo. It’s very rare that you get to [play] someone who will sacrifice themselves for the good of somebody else,” Belcher said.
Belcher was familiar with Ludwig’s works. He won a UIL award in 2008 performing in another Ludwig play, “Moon Over Buffalo.” “Ludwig’s work is fun, it’s quick, fast-paced, and it’s enjoyable.”
“Leading Ladies” will be at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 1-3 and Oct. 8-10, and at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 4 and 11 in McCreless Theater.
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