PORT ANGELES — To make great art, the actor must suffer.
“And God, do I suffer,” says Richard Stephens, whose latest over-the-top role is as leading man in “Moon Over Buffalo,” the romantic-comic romp opening this weekend for a three-week run at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse. (Matinee at 2 p.m. today — see box at right.)
Set in the 1950s when movie-star couples stood at the heights of glamor, “Buffalo” brings us stage actors George, portrayed by Stephens, and Charlotte, played by Lynne Murphy in her first lead role.
In this story, the two are performing in two shows, “Private Lives” and “Cyrano de Bergerac,” when the famed director Frank Capra calls.
He’s looking for replacements for Ronald Colman and Greer Garson, the stars of his current film “The Twilight of the Scarlet Pimpernel.”
Could George and Charlotte be the answer?
Maybe.
It’s just that they have some issues. George has just had an affair with the young actress Eileen (Maddie Stearns) — and she’s pregnant. His wife Charlotte finds out. And man, does she mete out the punishment.
“That is my all-time favorite moment,” Murphy says of the scene in which she beats the daylights out of George.
The couple go through all manner of other struggles together. And Murphy, beatings notwithstanding, says she and Stephens have some good chemistry onstage.
“This might be his finest hour,” she said of her costar, who also engages in a sword fight and wrestling match.
“Buffalo” has “a great story line; there are so many facets to it,” the actress added.
Along with George and Charlotte’s wacky relationship, there’s the problem of their theater company. It’s going broke. The actors are quitting.
Real-life issues have reared their heads as well: Actor Ben Catterson, who was cast as the fiance of George and Charlotte’s daughter Rosalind (Dani Lorentzen), became ill and had emergency surgery earlier this week.
So Mark Lorentzen, Dani’s real-life husband and a veteran actor whose credits include “Godspell” and “South Pacific,” is stepping into the role.
For Stephens, this has been a strenuous show, what with the beatings and the fencing scene.
“You have all these outlandish situations and visual gags . . . a lot of bars of wet soap to juggle,” he quipped.
Yet “Buffalo” is a love letter to the theater, and Stephens, like his character, is an actor who can roll with the proverbial punches.
“The old adage, ‘the show must go on’ is a reality,” he said.
The play, written by Ken Ludwig, opened on Broadway in 1995 with Carol Burnett and Philip Bosco as Charlotte and George. “Buffalo” ran for 309 performances and got Tony Award nominations for the two stars.
Murphy, meanwhile, believes Port Angeles’ “Buffalo” is your antidote if you’re feeling a little weary.
“Life is full of gloom and doom, and this gives you two hours of stomach-wrenching laughter,” she said, and let’s face it, “that’s good for the soul.”
