After being overseas for a couple of years, Roxanne returns home and meets up with her long time best friend Fran. This show tells the story of their night of catching up.
Jacky Claff portrays Roxanne in the perfect over dramatic manner of a self absorbed Thespian. Her often ditzy manner helped to endear her to the audience. Meanwhile Lou Pardi’s Fran acts mostly as the straight woman to Roxanne. The slightly frumpy of the pair, she reluctantly takes Roxy’s dating advice while giving back plenty of sarcasm. The characters bounce well off one another, giving the audience the impression that these two very opposite personalities could very well be best friends.
The dialogue between the characters is fantastic. Roxanne’s constant mangling of her metaphors is a constant source of laughter and there are plenty of amusing lines peppered throughout the script. We even get a scene in the closing moments where each is pouring their hearts out simultaneously, both ending with the same sentence (ala Moonlighting).
The show makes use of music quite a bit. The friends occasionally break into song with a brief tune relating to what they were just talking about. Jacky also gets a chance to show off her fine singing voice with a number of fantastic original songs accompanied by a prerecorded piano. These tunes are both touching and amusing. Highlights include a song about the supposed monogamy of lobsters (complete with a hilarious lobster dance) and the final number about their relationship.
It was an interesting tactic that they chose to insert a brief interval in a play of this length. They employ a clever way to make a segue way to the break and resumed the show with a brief Rock Eisteddfod performance about Lorena Bobbitt. This piece was brilliantly absurd. While at first glance this act didn’t seem to fit in with the rest of story, it actually illustrated Fran and Roxy’s history performing together which was especially relevant after witnessing the action that follows. I noticed that the audience was predominately female. I’m sure they could relate to everything covered in the show, but there is plenty for the XY chromosomed amongst us as well. This show is definitely fun for all.
For booking details go to Fran And Roxanne Are Best Friends