The Cemetery Club

The Cemetery Club
Stage Door Players
through April 9, 2017

We’re in the Forest Hills section of Queens, and we meet three Jewish widows, who are trying to find their way through those not so golden years.  They get together each month and go to visit their husbands’ graves, which might all be in the same cemetery.

Doris (Hannah Lowther), Lucille (Karen Whitaker) and Ida (Ann Wilson) are ladies that everyone in the audience knows.  One of them is impressed with her own appearance, another with buying at the lowest price, one with suspicion of any man who looks at any of them, etc.

The man who starts the action is Sam (Frank Roberts) the butcher, who shows up at the cemetery to visit his wife’s grave and starts to get into it with Ida.  The other two BFFs put the anchor on that one, though.  Then there is a woman we never meet, who is about to be married for the Nth time, and the three ladies are to be her Maids of Honor.  She always asks three different women each time she weds.

The agent provocateur shows up as Mildred (Kathleen McCook) who they all know;  but didn’t expect to be sharing a car ride or an evening with her as Sam’s eye-candy and date.

There used to be huge posters in the NYC subways promoting Levy’s bagels that said You Don’t Have to be Jewish to Enjoy Levy’s.  I recall one of them with a picture of a Native American Indian munching out.  Well, the same is true about Ivan Menchall’s play.  There may be a few Yiddish words, but you know where they’re going.  It’s kind of the Golden Girls on stage.

The show is directed by Dina Shadwell and Chuck Welcome put together an easily workable stage.  It’s been playing to a full house and everybody is enjoying the show; especially if they are AARP members.  Stage Door Players is easy to get to in Dunwoody, free parking, comfy seats, and you ca download more info and tickets at StageDoorPlayers.net