By Cori Wilbur

Theater is alive and well in 2019. To kick start their 37th season, North Coast Repertory Theatre springs us back to 1953 with their run of Ken Ludwig’s farce Moon Over Buffalo, directed by Matthew Wiener.

“The cleverness of the play and crazy abandon of the characters is going to make for a very enjoyable evening at the theater,” Wiener affirmed. Buffalo provided nothing short of a night filled with absurdity and insanity.

Dense with witty jokes, clever innuendo and slapstick action, Buffalo delivers constant laughs from start until finish.

Art does not always need to have profoundly deep meaning in order for lessons to be learned. The takeaway from this particular performance was that the theater continues to have a significant place in Solana Beach’s culture.

Met with a full house, the whole audience was in stitches the entire time.

The play focuses on the antics of George and Charlotte Hays, a hilarious duo of Arthur Hanket and Katrina Ferguson, two established stage actors struggling to keep themselves relevant while film reigns supreme. Both cope with the changes of entertainment in different ways. George has an extramarital affair that is anything but no-strings attached and Charlotte will do whatever it takes to live the A-list life, with or without her husband. Each member of the cast contributes an equal level of witticism which makes for a solidly and universally funny production.  

Wiener noted Buffalo has a “nostalgic feel that opens us up to humor.” When discussing the advantages of setting a play in the past, he added, to watch something in retrospect “gives us more freedom to laugh at it.”

At the beginning of a new year, when change is unavoidable, nostalgia is one of the best sensations. As we find ourselves in the third week of 2019 and delve into another season of stagecraft, amusement such as Moon Over Buffalo–rooted in nostalgia–is a pleasure to produce and relieving to watch.

Moon Over Buffalo has been extended to February 10th due to popular demand. Please visit https://northcoastrep.org/production/moon-over-buffalo/ for play information and to purchase tickets.