At Parsippany Playhouse, Comedy is All in the Family

A celebratory cake was cut in the final scene of the Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy, “Crimes of the Heart” Friday night at the .

Taken out of context, that gesture might have appeared a bit premature. But it was in the script and, as it turned out, this opening-night celebration was entirely appropriate.

While no one will mistake it for the feel-good holiday show of the season, Director Barbara Krajkoswki’s splendid revival has all the southern belles and whistles expected of a crowd-pleasing hit. Beth Henley’s twisted tale of three dysfunctional Mississippi sisters is a treasure, and Krajkowski has assembled a talented cast loaded with convincing family chemistry.

Nearly 30 years old now, “Crimes of the Heart” has crossed from contemporary to timeless. And in the cozy Parsippany Playhouse, the entire audience enjoys a living-room view of a compelling family in crisis.

The drama revolves around Babe (radiant newcomer Elizabeth Mackintosh), the youngest of the MacGrath sisters, who grew up sharing the burden of their mother’s suicide. Babe is too young to clearly remember when Mom hung herself, along with the family cat, which brought shame and national attention to their gossipy Dixie community.

Cousin Chick (Carie Ivanovski) has risen above her extended family scandal to become a proud committee chairman in the local Women’s League, but the MacGrath sisters continue to struggle. Babe managed to bag a prize husband, who is a lawyer and a state senator, but is now charged with shooting him in the stomach. We are led to suspect his abuse motivated her heinous act, but suffering from shock, her only defense is that “I didn’t like his look.”

Eldest sister Lenny (Jacqueline Holloway), on her 30th birthday, is taking it hardest. She’s the spinster of the family, having denied her own happiness to care for the grandfather we never see, but is slowly dying in the hospital.

Middle sister Meg (Michele Danna) arrives to stir the pot. She’s the diva of the family who ran off to Hollywood to pursue a singing career, although we quickly learn her career crashed and burned. Still, her homecoming sparks a brushfire. Chick dredges up Meg’s past as a party girl while Lenny defends her (“she was popular”) and her old boyfriend, Doc (Billy C. Edwards) longs for a reunion, even though he’s now married with two kids.

All of them fret about Babe’s situation, but local lawyer Barnette Lloyd (Jason Szamreta) is eager to defend her. Seems the gifted but giddy barrister has held a lifelong grudge against Babe’s husband, who ruined his father’s business and reputation. He’s also nursed a crush on Babe since she sold him a pound cake at the church bazaar.

The center of “Crimes of the Heart” is found in the relationship of the three sisters, who share a common trauma but took different paths in life.

Lenny resents Meg’s talent and popularity while she frets about becoming an old maid. Holloway wisely ignores her own natural, statuesque beauty as she tries to hold the family together.

Danna stumbles a bit at first, staring blankly as she listens to Babe reveal some shocking details of the crime, but gradually shows the telltale signs of a gifted woman who let her talents slip away.

Mackintosh, a recent graduate of Montclair State University, is a revelation as the subtly unhinged Babe, connecting with the audience as she shows her character’s disconnection to the facts of her case. She also demonstrates some natural comic abilities, particularly in a few scenes where she flirts with Szamareta, who clowns just enough as Barnette without quite going over the top.

Ivanovski also delights as the nasty, noisy Chick, who clearly has resented her prettier cousins and is secretly enjoying their comeuppance, even as she pledges her familial support.

Edwards, the most experienced actor of the bunch, barely registers, although his only mistake may be playing the one underwritten role in the story.

Fortunately, Krajkowski has a wealth of talent to work with and the cast meshes as well as any she has ever put on her stage. And the single set—a modest but complete country kitchen—helps to draw the audience into the home and lives of these loopy sisters, who share their family secrets in a way that many of us will probably recognize in our own lives.

The Women’s Theater Company production of “Crimes of the Heart” runs through Dec. 4 at the Parsippany Community Center’s Parsippany Playhouse, 1130 Knoll Road, Parsippany. Tickets $20, $18 seniors. For online ticket purchase or information, visit www.womenstheater.org or call 973-316-3033.