Megan Mullally fanatic and Knope Knows reader, Alejandra, recently saw Mullally in The Receptionist, written by Adam Bock and directed by Bart DeLorenzo. Mullally, of course, is married to Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman (Ron Swanson).
The play is currently running at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles. Ticket information is available at the bottom of this post.
Alejandra with Nick at the Odyssey Theatre on October 17. Says Alejandra: "Nick was a gentleman. He was so nice to take time for my friend Arlene and I to take pictures with him."
Here’s her review:
“Office work.” Boring, huh? Well, Adam Bock’s dark comedy “The Receptionist” brings it all to a new life.
Beverly Wilkins (Mullally) is the receptionist at an unnamed company’s seemingly normal New England northeast office. She spends her days answering phone calls, often stopping to gossip with the always late Loraine (Jennifer Finnigan) who rants about her narcissistic boyfriend, dealing with customers and often getting frantic calls from her daughter. But underneath the office’s bland exterior, something dark is happening.
However, the day-to-day usual happenings change when Mr. Dart (Chris L. McKenna), a handsome representative from the central office, arrives asking for Mr. Raymond (Jeff Perry), who’s been gone from his desk for the past day or so. But the mysterious visitor isn’t as nice and friendly as he seems and is on an equally mysterious mission. A not so pleasant one, as Mr. Raymond soon finds out.
For most of the play, Mullally, sporting an oh-so-unflattering 1960’s hairstyle and a full-blown New England accent, has long and hysterical one-ended phone calls. But by the end of the play, she quickly changes from frivolously uninvolved to extremely traumatized.
Finnigan’s Loraine is much like Jane Krakowski’s Jenna from 30 Rock: the not-so-smart, attention-needing, revealing-clothes-wearing blonde who leaves her junk all over the place just to be neatly picked up and sanitized by Beverly.
Perry, although only seen about 15 minutes in the whole production, brings to life the jittery paranoia that helps reveal what happens at the end of the play.
However, McKenna has one of the trickiest, most difficult parts. A nice, charismatic, well-dressed, polite, non-pen-stealing man who turns on a dime, all the while not raising a hand or his voice and keeping a grin on his face.
Overall, the play is a very funny/tragic one that brings out the actors’ abilities to do both the funny and the scary. I totally recommend it.
Alejandra went twice! Here she is with Megan on August 20.
Here’s the basics:
What: The Receptionist
When: Saturdays @ 5 and 8 p.m. (through November 21)
Where: Odyssey Theatre
Address: 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd, West Los Angeles
Runtime: 70 minutes
Cost: $30 | Get Tickets
