Comtra Theatre

Moon Over Buffalo

directed by Nancy Batko and Liz Klein

November 2012

Role - George Hay

This was the second time I did Ken Ludwig's Moon Over Buffalo. The first time, I played Paul. Well, apparently I have aged beyond the romantic lead and into the comedic lead.

George is a fun character. He's over the top, melodramatic and a walking stage show. Nothing he does is without a touch of the dramatic. Inadvertently, I also got to play Cyrano (a role I would love to fill) and Elliot from Private Lives (I'm ambivalent on that one).

This was an extremely physical show with a lot of physical comedy and most of it at my expense. I think I spent more time in act 2 in my underwear than I did anything else.

My favorite moment from the run of this show happened closing night. When Howard comes in dressed as General Patton and I think he's trying to kill me, I dove for the ground like I always did. Only this time, I somehow connected with the end table holding the coffee pot and other properties. Everything went flying and the table actually broke with the leg coming off in my hand as I tried to right it. So I went with it and tried to cower behind a table leg. I'm amazed we made it through that scene while all still in character.

This is another show where I changed my facial hair to fit the character. I shaved so my mustache was no longer connected to the goatee and then grew the mustache long and waxed it into handlebars. It was impeccable in act 1 and a complete mess in act 2 (on purpose) and I'm sure I'm the only one that noticed.