A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Divorce

Entertainment, Theater — By Buddy Sampson on August 2, 2022 at 9:10 am

A Delicious View of Divorce

By Buddy Sampson

“A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Divorce,” playing at the Two Roads Theater in Studio City, California, is a funny but at times serious look at some of the root causes of divorce. It’s a delicious and tasty bit of theater that audiences need after a long period of pandemic isolation.

Written by Jeff Gould and directed by Marc Antonio Pritchett, the production was sparsely but excellently produced by Shelby Janes, allowing the considerable prowess and nuances of the actors and actresses to take center stage. The production has two casts. I happened to catch the production, on July 30^th, that had Marie Pettit Gregson, Laura Walker, Bri Ana Wagner, Ian Nemser, Anthony Backman and Corbin Timbrook as the centerpieces and they were all excellent.

Marie Pettit Gregson, is sensational as Angie in it, playing one of the wives, the adult in the room with a tragic secret. Laura Walker, expert at playing comedic roles, demonstrated her range as Carol, a sometimes condescending, but funny wife, with issues of her own. Look for huge thing to happen with Laura in the future, she has Ruth Buzzi and Gilda Radner like talent.

Bri Ana Wagner was terrific as Tanya, a Hollywood type that is quite recognizable in Los Angeles. The actors, which included Ian Nemser as Brian, Anthony Backman as Ken and Corbin Timbrook   as Doug, are all men you recognize, each of them with their own separate vulnerabilities. However, all the actors and actresses in the hour plus production were simply brilliant. Each of them handled their roles carefully but free, capturing the nuances of their characters with seemingly relative ease.

As a reviewer, I was super impressed. The play is running until September, and I fully recommend it. In Black families when a great meal is cooked and we’ve enjoyed it, we say “whew you really stuck your foot in that one, that was delicious!”

Well, in “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Divorce,” Jeff Gould definitely put his foot into this production. It was deliciously funny, but poignant.

Saturdays at 8PM and Sundays at 3PM, July 9^th– September 11^th, 2022, Two Roads Theater, 4348 Tujunga Avenue, Studio City, CA.

Tags: A Funny Thing Happened on the way to divorce, Bri Ana Wagner, Jeff Gould, Laura Walker, Marie Pettit, Marie Pettit Gregson, Shelby Janes