Cast as Clairee, the elegantly beautiful Ruth Cordell has an ease of delivery and a grace of movement that typifies the Southern matron in all her glory. However, Cordell's portrayal lacks any staginess, relying instead on her own innate style to bring Clairee to life, at turns both laugh-out-loud funny and movingly dramatic.
Brooke Bryant's Annelle is the very picture of restraint, which saves the naïve character from becoming a cliché. Instead, Bryant's Annelle is believable and likable, possessing an innocent charm that allows the audience to accept her own emotional arc in the play as real growth.
But, clearly, if anyone in the cast threatens to steal the show from her capable castmates, it's Denice Hicks as the neighborhood harridan Ouiser Boudreaux, who can do it. One of the region's most respected stage actresses (and directors--she's also artistic director for the Nashville Shakespeare Festival), Hicks' performance is revelatory in its scope-a good thirty years younger than the character she plays, she becomes every Southern town's rich, eccentric, old lady whose harshly frank exterior belies her heart of gold. Hicks' confidence is extraordinary and while she does not (in any sense) steal focus from any of the other women onstage, she gives a master class in character acting that is not to be missed.
While Copeland's direction is exemplary and the actresses are at the top of their game, the production is not without its problems, that in retrospect seem like minor quibbles. Act One seemed to move slowly (perhaps because of the interminable welcoming speech before the play's start that will hopefully be shortened during subsequent performances), while Act Two hit the right rhythm and clipped along at a good pace.
Trish Clark's costume design, while quite good, also needs fine-tuning. What's with Clairee's white belt/taupe pumps combo in Act Two (something no self-respecting Southern woman would be caught dead in) and Shelby's dowdy duds throughout the show? Although the costumes are very true to the play's setting in the mid-1980s, they're not nearly as fashionable as women such as these would wear.
Gary Hoff's beautifully designed and expertly realized set (with kudos to Michael Barnett's lighting design) provides a lovely playing area for these actresses to conduct their exceptional master class. Even if you've seen dozens of stagings of Steel Magnolias (as I have) or watched the film over and over (as I must admit, I have), you'll find so much new to love and to appreciate in Tennessee Rep's silver anniversary mounting.
--Steel Magnolias. By Robert Harling. Directed by Rene Dunshee Copeland. Presented by Tennessee Repertory Theatre at the Andrew Johnson Theatre at Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville. Through October 24. For details, visit the company's website at www.tennesseerep.org.
