Sunday Dinner

The dialogue per-se is not bad and the actors are all professional in bringing their under-written characters to life, but at just about two hours, the evening didn’t jell, creating conflicted feelings amongst the thoughtful audience, which would suggest that the material would be better suited for the limitations of soap-opera than live theatre.

Tony Blake's often universally comedic dialogue, always delivered to illicit the most laughter possible by each member of the cast , who thoroughly inhabit their roles, at the end we are left wondering if the family can withstand the weight of so much sin, secrecy and shame. Blake leaves it up to us to decide if telling the truth is worth all the crap it's going to leave in its wake.

The play’s action revolves around Michael, movingly interpreted by James Tabeek. Kevin Linehan makes us dislike Michael’s boorish brother Ritchie, while Sharron Shayne proved a sympathetic Rose.

Expertly segueing from comedy to drama and back, and unafraid to resist leaving things tied up in a neat, pretty bow, Sunday Dinner makes for one richly rewarding family feast.

Director/author Tony Blake does an excellent job of building up the inevitable progression of secrets coming to light with the aid of a talented ensemble cast who can deliver a quip as well as a painful confession with equal skill. As always, Jeff G. Rack’s set is flawless, as well as Michele Young’s costumes, Brandon Baruch’s and Gregory Crafts’ lighting, and Joseph Slawinski’s sound.

Tabeek makes us feel Michael’s pain and guilt over his sinful behavior (in the eyes of the church).

You have to see the play yourself, since to describe the amusing, if sometimes tragic conflicts, would give it all away. Go and discover it.

A family so dysfunctional whose members, idiosyncratic in themselves, comes together, occupy Tony Blake’s Sunday Dinner. The playwright also directs this fine cast. The family springs to life under Blake’s intricate machinations, as one stunning revelation follows another. Typical of Theatre 40’s best work, this cast works well together. There is never a dull moment in the Matera family, and you’ll be entertained until the dinner is in shambles. Few families could survive the extent of these revelations; mercifully, however, there is redemption by the end the evening.

...the production stumbles in some aspects of its execution, but manages to captivate through a strong, tension-filled plot.

Fortunately, the action focuses on the family dynamics and those relationships all ring true, as does blaming Ellen DeGeneres for “everybody saying they’re gay.” This is a compelling work that will make you feel like a part of a family hopefully more dysfunctional than your own.

Theatre 40, in Beverly Hills, is presenting the world premiere of Sunday Dinner,  the latest play written by well-known playwright Tony Blake who also directs thr very talented cast.

SUNDAY DINNER can be shocking at times based upon the opinions and viewpoints expressed through its characters. This is what makes this play shine throughout!

While not a kitchen-sink drama as such—the action has moved to the prim and slightly kitschy dining room and living room—the environment is all important. The neighborhood is changing: New waves of immigrants have moved in. The food they eat, the languages they speak, and the clothes they wear are all unfamiliar. Now that Grandpa has died—he lived in the apartment above—it’s time to move out, to Brooklyn, Connecticut or New Jersey, and unload this property which is rapidly decreasing in value.

Anywhere they move is going to be more expensive, so it becomes a critical question how to divide up the proceeds from the sale of this house. Will money exert a stronger pull on their behavior than their loyalty to family?

That’s the central question of the play (seen opening night, Jan. 16), but it comes wrapped in a whole cocoon of other issues both personal and familial: ancient sibling rivalries, lies, failures and flaws, jealousy, lust and illusion, PTSD, old vs. new theology, and I could go on.