Review - Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating & Marriage

Miss Abigail's Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage
Tickets: 877-9-MISS-ABIGAIL (877-964-7722)
Or Visit Sofia's Downstairs Theater, 221 West 46th Street (between Broadway & 8th), NYC.
written by Ken Davenport and Sarah Saltzberg
starring Eve Plumb & Manuel Herrara
Continues for a limited run

With the code DATING, any of my readers can get special discounted $45 tickets - for details and to order check here

You'll laugh, you'll shout things out loud - you may even find yourself on stage practising that perfect kiss or playing "Love, Lust or Stalking". Miss Abigail delivers a fast paced and funny ride through our mating rituals through the eyes of previous eras, with a cute romantic story thrown into the mix. It's a highly entertaining concoction I enjoyed more than I expected, (and I had reasonably high hopes).

I'm typically a little leery of claims to "laugh out loud" humour, but in this case it's really true. The clever script takes the essence of the show's inspiration from www.missabigail.com, the website of the real life Miss Abigail Grotke of Takoma Park, MD, who began dispensing relationship advice online culled from books published in the 1920's to 1950's. It adds the fictional Miss Abigail, a widow of a certain age who's a relationship expert to the stars and Paco, her adorable younger assistant, along with a romantic plot that's played for laughs, but works all the same because of the casting. Eve Plumb and Manuel Herrara have an engaging chemistry that I found myself rooting for.

Miss Abigail runs through her schtick of dispensing romantic advice as Paco and sometimes audience members assist and demonstrate, and it quickly becomes clear that Paco's devotion is to much more than his job. Manuel Herrara embodies the role with an earnest charm and a nice sense of physical comedy. His dark, soulful eyes project unrequited passion and then resentment across the stage as a male audience member gets a book for Miss A from the shelf. "You know I don't like it when there's another man in your stacks, Miss Abigail," he says, glowering.

Ms Plumb, looking terrific, of a necessity plays the role of Miss Abigail straight, filling it out into more than a caricature with the ease that comes from a lifetime of acting. As for the advice, much of it stands the test of time too - among the old chestnuts:
  • Men, always greet her with a kiss, espec- ially when other people are around;
  • Women, never hold up your husband to ridicule in the presence of others. If you must criticize, do so privately and without anger - and the tried and true:
  • Women, don't try to boss him around. Let him think he wears the pants.
Ah, the good old days...

With the code DATING, any of my readers can get special discounted $45 tickets - for details and to order check here

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