By Michael Buzzelli
When Hailey (Darby Baublitz) tells her mother, Jess (Joanna Getting), about an exciting new addition to the St. Patrick’s Day holiday, the new made-up tradition upends every family on the block in Brian Knavish’s “There’s A Leprechaun Now?”
First, there was Elf on a Shelf, and there’s a leprechaun now. The parents, Jess and her husband Mike (Nick Grosso), have to scramble to learn the details about the event since their five-year-old (Baublitz in a severe case of Dawson’s Casting) isn’t a reliable source.
Note: Dawson’s Casting is the practice of casting older actors to play younger characters, made popular by the show “Dawson’s Creek.”
Jess forms a phone tree with the other parents in Hailey’s class to get the deets.
Mike tries to get a hold of the teacher who has left on a cruise for Spring Break. He encounters Tanya (Cole Rygalski), who doles out some excellent advice from Improv 101 (“Yes…and…” it).
Soon, an inner circle is formed. Jess, Mike, neighbor Liz (Jennifer Bett), and single dad Jack (Andrew Huntley) decide to create all the rules for the spritely visitor.
Things start silly and get sillier!
Getting’s Jess is delightful. She plays a harried housewife. She has great comic timing. The actor wasn’t afraid to fully commit to the insanity of the Knavish’s story. Getting also had great chemistry with Grosso’s Mike.
Grosso plays a father willing to do anything to keep the magic alive for his little girl. Mike’s manic panic and discovery of heretofore unknown improv skills is comedy gold for Grosso, and he mines every nugget (pot o’ gold reference).
Liz is an adversarial character, but Bett reveals a softer side to her. The character is as multifaceted as a prism, and Bett plays the full rainbow.
Rygalski’s part is smaller than a leprechaun but uses all of his lucky charms. He chews up the sparse scenery with Tanya’s gigantic personality.
Huntley’s zoned-out cuckold was hilarious. Knavish wrote the character an unhinged rant, which Huntley delivers with aplomb. When Liz suggests medical marijuana, his character shifts from raving lunatic to passive snacker.
The cast includes two stagehands, Ciaran and Isobel Macik, dressed up as leprechauns. While they are silent and mostly just moving around the furniture, they add an extra layer of joy to the production.
At the end of the show, the cast Shamrock Shakes to parody lyrics, “I saw Mommy Kissing…Leprechaun” in kilts, no less. It’s a moment of pure bliss.
Director Andy Kirtland gets a lot out of his actors for a one-night performance.
The show should be performed in early March every year, like December’s “A Christmas Carol,” or “The Nutcracker.”
Side note: “The Nutcracker” is annual holiday fun. Take that, Timothee.
“There’s a Leprechaun Now?” has a fast, frenetic first act that slows down a bit in the second act, but it’s amazing that Knavish and Kirtland are able to sustain the action and comedy for as long as they did. In the end, the show is about parents doing whatever it takes to keep their children wide-eyed and innocent, and it’s a premise that is needed now more than ever. The show was magically delicious.
-MB
This one-time performance, a benefit for Throughline Theater Company, took place at the Greer Cabaret Theater. Learn more about the company and their upcoming event, the Annual Living News Festival, on their Facebook, Instagram page, or their website here.
