The Last Night Of Bayllyhoo Play Analysis

The Last Night of Ballyhoo was a play well done by the ensemble at the Quintero theatre for several reasons. The costumes, lighting, set, body language, and music all played a role in the development of the play and conveying the theme of anti-Semitism internalized in the Jewish community and to embrace one's heritage despite the hardships that one may face. The protagonist - Sunny- and antagonist of the play- Boo- displayed their motives well through the delivery of dialogue, therefore their motivations were clear. As part of the audience, I believe the best actor was Reba played by Lauren Ufkes and the least captivating to watch was Peachy played by Troy Beckman due to a few reasons. The theme of The Last Night of Bayllyhoo that I gathered …show more content…
Boo was motivated o get her daughter married and she also pushed her to become popular. However, Lala's characteristics did not help her climb the social ladder as well as Sunny. Sunny's charm and her external features led to more attention from males and captured Joe's attention that led to conflict among Lala and Sunny. I enjoyed seeing the conflict unfold because the antagonist and protagonist were not clearly spelled out throughout the play. All the characters were flawed which led to a dynamic performance by the actors. This was essential in keeping the audience's attention since there were not many actors or characters. I thought the best actor in the duration of the play was Lauren Ufkes who played Reba. Her performance stood out to me because of the timing of her one liner's that was crucial to the comedic facet of the play. Without her natural delivery of her lines, the laughable parts of the play would fall short and it would seem like the play is dragging on. She never takes the scene away from the other actors but weaves her character generously through the acts. I think she was best suited to play the role of Reba. Conversely, I wasn't particularly intrigued by the actions of Peachy played by Troy Beckman. There were several stand out actions such as his nuances for mischief that I enjoyed as well as the way he delivered some lines by actions that were specific to his characters- jumping and clapping his hands when he fooled someone- however, some of his other actions fell short. His performance was done well, but his energy was pushed to the background when he stood alongside Lala's dominant vitality whom he shared many scenes