Love turns deadly in ANPT's latest, The Dance on Widow's Row
by Martin Brady
After some personnel changes delayed its originally scheduled Aug. 13 launch, the new BScott Productions and SistaStyle Productions co-venture The Dance on Widow's Row, presented by The American Negro Playwright Theatre, opened last weekend for an open run at Writer's Stage. Samm-Art Williams' farce about deadly ladies on the make debuted locally five years ago at TSU's Cox/Lewis Theatre, and this effort features many of the same players.
Four middle-aged widows—who have cumulatively buried nine husbands—host a party whose special invitees are eligible, financially secure men. Hooking up, then marriage, is the goal for all, but the ladies' reputation as femmes fatales unavoidably turns the men skittish even as they are charmed.
Black humor drives the play, and the writing seems sharpest when the actors are effectively working its more outrageous passages. Tamiko Robinson's goofy, over-the-top portrayal of Annie—a church lady turned temptress—is entertaining, and the events that spin off from her performance usually follow suit. Mary McCallum, as ringleader widow Magnolia, is manipulative and caustic—and hence fun to watch. David Chattam weighs in with a lively, endearing portrayal of the erstwhile suitor Newly, and Tony Insignares does commendably good work depicting a character probably double his real age. Dianne Dixon, Darlene Knight and Barry Scott, who directed, all get some laughs too. But there are occasional slow patches in Williams' script, and the production would benefit from a more precise staging. Still, there are enough funny moments to make Widow's Row a worthwhile destination.
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