- Sebastion Konarski, Andrew Winson and Dann Maurno in Michael Hollinger’s An Empty Plate in the Cafe du Grand Boeuf at Salem Theatre Company.
By Linda Weltner
You’ll find a delicious holiday feast at Salem Theatre Company’s latest production, Michael Hollinger’s “An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf.” Don’t let the fancy title fool you. This is comedy of the rib-tickling, laugh-out-loud kind, even if it takes place in the best restaurant inParis.
Here is the plot. Victor, a tall, handsome American millionaire played byAndrew Winson, has set up a restaurant that caters entirely to his taste buds. An incomparable chef, a subservient waiter, a comely waitress, and the newly hired busboy have but one purpose – to meet his gastronomic needs – but horrors! Monsieur has arrived with tie askew, his shirt unfurled, his face a mask of despair. And without the love of his life on his arm.
Worst of all, although he’s willing to sit, he refuses to eat. He plans to starve himself to death in the company of his staff, the only friends and family he has left.
Why has Victor lost his will to live, or more precisely, his will to eat? What are his “friends,” whose very lives depend on Victor’s appetite, willing to do to get food down his gullet? The answer is as spicy as wild game consommé, as whimsical as leg of pheasant, as lunatic as vodka tomato sorbet, as delectable as chateaubriand, and as tempting as, what proves to be, an irresistible crème brûlée. That food, described in loving detail, is designed to prompt a little hunger for life, but instead prompts petit confessions from the staff, giving each of the characters a touching human dimension in the midst of the general hilarity.
Claude, the waiter played by Dann Anthony Maurno, presides with perfect obsequiousness over the proceedings. Brian Casey as Gaston, the clueless chef, lends a heart-warming Three Stooges touch as he maniacally tries to play God. Sebastian Konarski as Antoine, the new kid on the block, does his musical best to fill in for Pierre, a beloved former employee, now deceased. As Mimi, the waitress with a heart full of longing, Emma Cavaliere displays the requisite empathy as Claude’s long-suffering wife, and the sudden appearance of Sara Maurno, the mystery woman who holds the key to Victor’s happiness, adds the appropriate touch of sophisticated glamour to the topsy-turvy ending.
All doesn’t end well for the cast, but for the audience, it’s a different story.
Director Gary LaParl has the timing down pat, as do the actors whose faces telegraph their conflicting emotions without words. The set, designed by Nathan Bertone, (amazingly, a senior at Salem High School), is as inviting as any 5-star restaurant in the Michelin Guide, and the tiny space that is the Salem theater creates an intimacy befitting diners at the next table at the Café du Grand Boeuf itself.
In this rushed and harried season, this is a night out you deserve to give yourself, an evening of laughter that will fill you up with enough holiday cheer to get you through to New Year’s Eve. Don’t miss it.
The production runs December 1-17, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. at the Salem Theatre Company at 90 Lafayette Street, Salem. Tickets are available online at www.salemtheatre.com or can be reserved for pick up at the box office by calling 978-790-8546 or emailing info@salemtheatre.com. Online ticketing ends 24 hours in advance of each performance. Regular ticket prices are $22 for adults, $18 for seniors, and $12 for students.
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Linda Weltner’s weekly column, “Ever So Humble,” appeared in the At Home section of the Boston Globe for 19 years. She is presently host of the cable show, “Changing Our World,” on MHTV in Marblehead.
