Katie Malone

"It was all over.... Oh, not the marriage; the bliss," says Julie Portman of the results of a key argument between her parents. Portman, in this immensely entertaining one-woman play, pays homage to her mother and father, using the simple props of a wedding dress and hat, well-placed background music, and superb comic timing. When her husband-to-be demanded the right of final authority as a pre-requisite to marriage, Julie's mother said she'd think about it; which she did, finally capitulating two years later on April 14th, 1936, when she surprised a group of early mass attendees by walking down the church aisle toward a brief wedding ceremony at six in the morning. After the birth of their son, and her husband Ronald's thwacking of the boy when he was three, Julie's mother recanted on her promise, and present and future Portman children were thereafter exposed to two parental opinions. Her father sang, her mother played piano; together they made beautiful music even if they didn't always see eye to eye. Julie Portman, switching between the roles of father, mother, and daughter, does an excellent job of conveying her mother's strength of spirit and independence in the face of a domineering husband at a time when meekness and submission were the norm. For those who can afford it, this is highly recommended. (R. Pitman)