Almost, Maine

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Warm Fuzzies with a broken leg and a cold describes John Cariani’s delicious play Almost, Maine currently playing on the Aurora Fox stage under the direction of Bev Newcomb Madden.

Rhonda Lee Brown and Michael McNeill in Almost, Maine at the Aurora Fox.

No one abuses anyone. No one shoots anyone. No one screams and swears. No one acts outrageous. No one slurps from an over active frustrated sexual drive. No one takes potshots at society, or the audience. No one suggests people are blind to serious social issues. No one is caught up in frightening psychological knots destroying everything in their path. Just Warm Fuzzies surrounded by inconvenient irritations.

A breath of fresh air fills the theatre with a tinge of warm, tender, honest peeks into fragilic relationships. Humorous, honest funny, poignant, heartbreaking, heart mending stories unfold with gentle insights into the art of love of wanting, denying, speaking too soon, not soon enough, searching for words to match emotions, searching for emotions to match words.

Almost, Maine, a small community living snugly and happily close to the Canadian border finds major shopping easier to complete in Canada than it is in the United States. Almost is not a town, much less a city, just an unincorporated community. To become a town, it had to get organized, and that wasn’t on their list of priorities.

Eight vignettes encased in a beginning and an ending showcase the talents of seven magnificent actors. Publicity points out Rhonda Lee Brown and John Arp. That’s enough to make anyone put the dishes in the sink and just go. However, Michael McNeill, Sally Nell Mundell, Robert Michael, Susan Scott, and Jeremy Make stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Brown and Arp projecting characters who are too eager, feel no pain, carry a broken heart in a bag, take too long to answer the will-you-marry-me-question, jump to conclusions, don’t take time to listen, talk too much, don’t talk enough as they flirt with close personal intimate moments.

In the middle of winter on a Friday night when the clock strikes nine o’ clock, Ginette (Scott) and Pete (Michael) sit on opposite ends of a bench watching the night sky over run with billions of stars. In the midst of awkward conversation, she blurts out she’s having a nice time, and she loves him. He says nothing. Nothing worse than telling someone you love them, and they respond in silence. Finally responding he loves her too, she gushes over how nice it is to be so close when the space between them speaks louder than her words. Uncomfortable as he is, he grabs a snowball to explain it is possible to be right next to someone and at the same time be far apart as he traces backwards around the ball. Ginette runs away. Appalled? Wanting to prove a point? Tricky to tell at the moment. She just disappears.

With snowball in hand, Pete closely watches the direction he last saw Ginette, regretting his uncomfortable bumbling. Remaining on stage in the background, Pete plays his harmonica between each scenario always looking, always wondering. Even in the shadows, Michael knows how to grab attention.

East (Arp) spots Glory (Brown) from his bedroom window pitching a tent in his yard, falling in love on the spot. Glory read in a brochure how accommodating the people of Maine are. Not quite knowing where she is, she’s there for a reason; to honor her late husband she knows will be streaking across the sky amongst the Northern Lights. Not there for romantic reason, she carries her broken heart in a bag. East can’t help himself. He loves her. He knows he can fix her broken heart, after all he’s a repairman, and that’s what repairmen do: fix things.

Jimmy (Make) surrounds himself in feel-sorry-beer when he spots Sandrine (Mundell) sail by. Having not seen her since the last night they spent together and she disappeared. The not too bright Jimmy swinging awkward arms and legs pushes her to join him, pushes her for an explanation. An energetic waitress (Brown) complicates the situation even further with her false assumptions. In hearing the truth, Jimmy resumes his lost-little-boy demeanor. It’s free beer night for sad people. All he has to do is say he is sad, and he can drink for free. Dense Jimmy has to be hit over the head with a 2x4, and he still misses the cues, until the 2x4 hits home.

Comfortable in his apartment until Gayle (Brown) barges in demanding she wants it back, Lendall (McNeill) falls all over himself. She wants what back? Not just wanting it, she demands that he return to her all the love she gave him. After dragging in five huge red bags filled with the love he gave her, Gayle flies into orbit when he produces a very small red bag. The miscommunication bounces off the wall in a swirl until his explanation melts her in the cold night air.

The set designed by Charles Packard glistens with snow-covered bushes, heavy-ladened trees and a billion stars in the sky compliments the lighting designed by Shannon McKinney rivaling the beauty of the Northern Lights and the magic of shooting stars, along with the sound designed by El Armstrong as Almost, Maine plays throughout various areas of the small community.

Pete continues to look and watch tying together the scenarios with his harmonica.

The exquisite seven actors change characters as quickly as the lights change from dim to bright. Playwright Cariani provides incredible insight into heart rending, heart broken, couples who want to be in love, who don’t know what to do with it when love sneaks up behind them tapping them on the shoulder, who struggle to find common ground, and who struggle to keep from finding common ground. Newcomb Madden’s insightful direction and the expertise of these seven actors bring the astute, bumbling, rambling characters to delectable life.

Make leaves the bumbling awkward Jimmy backstage when he appears in the shadows as a controlled distinguished Man answering the door to find Hope (Scott) looking for Daniel Harding. Running her mouth at full speed, Scott provides a confused, vulnerable bamboozled Hope in contrast to the Man of distinction. She has the wrong house. Embarrassment forces her to explain that once upon a time Daniel asked her to marry him. She never answered. She ran. Now she wants to say yes. The Man quietly listens to her ramblings until he steps into the light, and her embarrassment increases to already speeding verbiage melting the snow beneath her feet.

Marvalyn (Scott) accidentally hits Steve (Arp) with an ironing board, but the grinning dope feels no pain. Arp, a master of grins that come in all sizes and shapes, meets Scott’s Marvalyn head on.

Best friends Randy (Arp) and Chad (McNeill) fall all over themselves in total confusion. Chad’s Friday night date ends up in disaster when she tells him she doesn’t like the way he smells. There they are, Randy and Chad, in the park with each other until they literally fall into a quagmire of confused realization for them and hilarity for everyone else.

Oh, yes, does Pete find a solution to his disappearing girl, Ginette? The answer comes, but best see it for yourself.

Almost, Maine is simply priceless, and The Aurora Fox’s production falls with the snow and stars in splendiferous array. Not to be missed under any circumstances. No question: we need more of what Cariani has to say, and the magnificent expertise this cast provides. It is one production you wish would never end. Miss this show and you will wish you hadn’t.