March Masterpiece Madness is a murder mystery written by Jessica Chace about an art competition set in Cranston. The competition is a tournament that has now come down to the Final Four; during the competition someone is murdered and it is up to audiences to decipher the clues and see whodunnit.
Jessica Chace and her cast create an energetic atmosphere in Theatre 82. As you enter, everyone is walking around already in character, making introductions and trying to get you to empathize with them for the competition. The cast includes people of all ages, types and experience. The two who steal the show are definitely the determined mother and realtor Darcy Regan-Saunders (Jessica Chace) and Nicky Gambino (David Kane), whose family is in the “waste management” business. Both are character types that the audience can instantly recognize and be enamored by. Jessica Chace’s Darcy Regan-Saunders is a mother who will stop at nothing to get her daughter Daisy (Simone Pellegrino) to win this competition, including ignoring her other daughter, Daphne (Emily Bianco). Her humorous passive-aggressive attitude is infectious and relatable. Nicky Gambino is your classic Rhode Island gangster, though he’ll never admit it, sticking to his family’s cover story. His quips and attitude are the type that could get him elected as a mayor in this state. His charisma fills the stage. Both actors did a great job of not only portraying their characters, but subtly and creatively keeping the play rolling when others seemed to stumble. Some other stand-out actors were Bob Macaux as the bureaucratic show runner, Sandy Akers. Sydney, and Dylan duKor-Jackson also did a fine job as Victoria and Winston Jefferson. For children so young, their characters seemed like they could have bossed anyone in the room around.
Unfortunately, the play was too slow even with their efforts; the script and actors told far too much detail about their characters. Information was conveyed through direct speech to the audience rather than disclosing it through dialogue and actions. The cast seemed far too enamored by the audience, and often simply spoke at them, rather than being truly interactive. The cast’s concentration on the audience deterred them from creating conversational dialogue with each other, which pulled the audience out of the action.
The competition itself should have been a height of the play, but wasn’t. At the end, the announcement of the winner was met more with apathy than excitement or surprise. The only time the excitement seemed to heighten was when Rick Hennessey (Tom Chace) and his comically poor parenting decided to send his daughter Hailey (Kalli Marek) to check out the recently murdered body. Her bloody scream echoed throughout the building. Rick seemed to read many of his lines, but did have a friendly demeanor that was perfect for being the host of a family-oriented performance.
There’s a clever use of mixed media to show a surveillance video that is used to solve the murder; however, the cast seemed awkwardly resigned to the outcome, and there was no shock amongst the audience either.
Overall, the play is slow and drawn out, and unfortunately was not as interactive as I had hoped. While there were a few bright spots, the play did not hold the attention of every audience member, which is unfortunate because when it was on, it was funny and captured a fun idea.
March Masterpiece Madness runs through March 28. Theatre 82, 82 Rolfe Square, Cranston. For tickets call 401.490.9475.
