431 of My Closest Friends
| Click on an image to zoom in and view at higher resolution. | Description | 431 of My Closest Friends Production Data |
|---|---|---|
 | Expectant mother Myra Gutkin is at first outraged that her mother hsa engaged Eden Esterhaus, bris consultant, to help her plan a party. |
431 of My Closest Friends began previews October 12th at Jewish Repertory Theatre, opened a week later, and ran for three more. Note: My first New York Lighting Design for a play, Dividends, (starring Emmy Award Winner Fyvush Finkel from Picket Fences) was for the same organization. Set and Costume Designers Michael Bottari and Ron Case are also represented in my portfolio for their work on the costumes for Swing!
Written by Miriam Kouzel Billington, Peter Goldman and David Presby This comedy, subtitled "A Shonda in Two Acts" is a fast paced romp through the exaggerated excess of the religious ritual turned into three ring circus by the very best party planner that money can buy. Myriam Kouzel Billington portrays a mother who thinks she wants a simple and intimate gathering for her newborn son's bris; all the myriad people who surround her are played by David Presby. The play was written by the two of them and Director Peter Goldman. Set and Costume Designers Michael Bottari and Ron Case are also represented in my portfolio for their work on the costumes for Swing! |
 | The slideshow Ms. Esterhaus gives Myra starts to seduce her into the idea of going all out for the event. | |
 | Myra's sister Rhoda clinches it for Eden when she reminds Myra how catastrophic all her attempts at party-planning have been in the past. | |
 | Soon Myra is registering her unborn son for gifts at Neiman Marcus, where she runs into Olive Kipperman, whose granddaughter Mitzi's Bas Mitzvah was to have been in the same ballroom on the same day as the now scheduled party. | |
 | The plot thickens when Myra's husband alerts her that the hospital has already circumcised the baby, making her elaborate party plans a big hoax. | |
 | At the rabbi's office, Myra confides her embarassing news, that little Sheldon's "challah bread" has already been "sliced". | |
 | In this transitional between the present and flashbacks, spiralling patterns are accompanied by sound effects reminiscent of Hitchcock's Vertigo. | |
 | On the day of the bris, Myra is panicked because she can't fit into her size 6 Halston gown, but Charlie the Bellboy reveals a dress perfect for Myra to wear that had been in Lost and Found since "Ms Minnelli" left it there. | |
 | Myra gives little Mitzi Kipperman a pep talk about her Bas Mitzvah, which was nearly ruined by the rivalry between the two events. Now the only way either family can avert disaster is to combine the two events. | |
 | In the Ladies' Lounge, Eden Esterhaus declares the Gutkin/Kipperman Bris-Mitzvah a raving success, but Myra, finally taking a moment to register the miracle of her new son's life, has tuned her out. |
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