THEATRE REVIEW:
MORE FINE GIRLS
13 MAR/11

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Grammatically, the comparative form of “fine” is “finer.” Which means that the title of the show that opened on the mainstage of the Tarragon Theatre Friday should be called, if one were to put a (ahem) fine grammatical point on it, Finer Girls, as opposed to MORE FINE GIRLS. Ultimately, however, such a title change would imply that the play — a sequel to the acclaimed 1995 offering, THE ATTIC, THE PEARLS, AND THREE FINE GIRLS — is somehow better than the play that spawned it. And, sadly, nothing could be further from the truth even if one compares it to the 1995 offering, and not the much more polished 1997 remount that accounts for much of the work’s enduring popularity in our shared theatrical memory.

To refresh that memory: THE ATTIC, THE PEARLS… debuted at the Theatre Centre, a production of Theatre Columbus, and showed certain promise — enough promise, in fact, that it was revived to both critical and audience acclaim on the stage of Buddies In Bad Times two years later. It was a collective creation, the handiwork of writer Jennifer Brewin, director Alisa Palmer and actors Leah Cherniak, Ann-Marie MacDonald and Martha Ross, all of whom shared a single writing credit. To mount the sequel, co-produced by Theatre Columbus and the Tarragon, that entire original creative team was re-assembled, although Cherniak withdrew just prior to the original scheduled opening for unspecified reasons. While Cherniak maintains a writing credit, Severn Thompson was recruited to replace her on stage and the opening of MORE FINE GIRLS was rescheduled.

It is set 13 years after its prequel and the Fine sisters — Jojo, played by Ross, Jayne, played by MacDonald and Jelly, played by Thompson — have been getting on with their lives. Jojo is starting to feel intimations of encroaching old age, but is still determined that life — her own and the lives of those around her — will unfold according to her vision. Jayne, meanwhile, has retired from the high-tension world of big business and has settled on an acreage with her same-sex partner, who continues to work. Jelly and her unseen daughter — fathered in a fleeting tryst with a nameless uni-cycler — are surviving on what Jelly can make as an artist. The Fine girls haven’t seen a lot of each other over the intervening years since last we saw them, but they have now re-assembled at Jelly’s invitation. Not surprisingly, they are getting along in Fine fashion. While Jojo tries to micromanage everything, Jayne frets about her deteriorating relationship and Jelly prepares for her biggest art project ever, one which will convert the family seat into environmental art.

As it plays, it is easy to see a lot of good ideas here but to this point, under Palmer’s direction, they still seem to be little more than a series of improvised scenes being unfairly bullied in an attempt to make a play of them. Ross is her usual frantic, over-emoting self, while MacDonald moves through much of the show like an automaton, waking up and joining the action to create some of the show’s comedic highlights. Only Thompson, divorced from the creation of the material as she is, seems completely comfortable in her character. Her comfort sadly makes her castmates seem like over-eager stage mothers, pushing their timid progeny to excel beyond their talents.

It bears remembering that in their first incarnation, it took two tries for the Fine girls to find the audience they deserved — and with luck and another production, they might succeed in transforming themselves from MORE FINE GIRLS into Finer Girls. But for now, they remain simply a grammatical conundrum.