'Perfect Wedding' Marries Fast Dialogue With Raucous Laughter

If you woke up hungover on your wedding day and found yourself in bed with a beautiful naked woman whom you can't remember, you might get a little stressed out.

Knowing that your betrothed and future mother-in-law will be arriving any minute might send you into a state of shock.

In “Perfect Wedding,” by Robin Hawdon, presented by the Kirkwood Theatre Guild (KTG) at the Robert G. Reim Theatre, Bill (Jeff Kargus), awakens after his bachelor party—which naturally involved lots of heavy drinking—only to find himself in bed with another woman (Nisrene Omri). She just happens to be a complete stranger.

She also just happens to be naked.

Knowing that his in-laws are due to arrive at any moment, Bill sets into motion a cover-up worthy of Watergate—or a well-written farce—from which all sorts of mistaken identities, confusions, misunderstandings, rapid-fire humor and compromising situations follow.

The first act is a joy, captivating the full-house by solving one predicament only to present another to take its place. It's a wild roller coaster ride as the plot thickens and thickens, and the audience ate it up with a spoon.

During the second act, the pace slowed as elements of the play turned serious. There were still laughs, but not as many as the loose ends of the intricate plot began to get tied up.

This combination of humor and seriousness is surely one of the attractions of the play—and also one of its drawbacks. Audiences can get greedy, and if I wanted more of the raucous humor that I so enjoyed during Act One, the other patrons at the Robert G. Reim Theatre didn't seem to mind.

Jeff Kargus as the groom, Bill, is outstanding. Kargus delivers a frenetic performance with specific voice and body movements, and he presents the audience with a character they can root for. Additionally, Kargus' timing often made dialogue more funny than if it would have been if delivered by another actor.

KTG veteran Lance Begnaud turns in a solid performance as Best Man, Tom. Merely caught in the subterfuge at first, he eventually finds himself an integral part of the story with his own problem and turns from Best Man to worst enemy.

Sally Lister as the wise cracking chambermaid is the thread throughout the plot. She was surely an audience favorite, and Nisrine Omri as the girl in the bed, is sweet and demure, proving that she is not the person we think her to be when we first meet her.

Amber Muschelli and Janet Robey-Schwartz play bride and mother-in-law respectively. Muschelli is strong with only hints of “bridezilla,” but breaks down when the facts come out, and Robey-Schwartz is excellent

Robert Thibaut's direction is steady and sure handed, and he moves actors around the two part set and in and out of doors in an effective and timely fashion. The pace is kept up admirably, and Thibaut gets the most from his performers.

Merrick Mohler's set was perfect—lots of doors for the necessary entrances and exits, and Lee Meyer's Lights were effective, highlighting the action in an unobtrusive fashion.

One more note on Janet Robey-Schwarts performance. She was clearly the most experienced of the actors and provided my favorite moment in the show when, in anger, she flicks droplets of her cocktail at the groom instead of the entire drink.

After all, a good cocktail is a terrible thing to waste.

Perfect Wedding will be presented by the Kirkwood Theatre Guild at the Robert G. Reim Theatre in the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer Rd, Kirkwood, MO, Jan, 14-16, and Jan. 20-22. For tickets and information call (314) 821-9956.