Always a Bridesmaid follows four friends through decades of weddings, mishaps and enduring friendship.
You know the old adage “Always a bridesmaid?†Meadow Brook Theatre takes that idea to theatrical extremes in Always a Bridesmaid, a high-energy comedy running now through June 21. Leslie Ann Handelman stars as one of four friends navigating weddings, friendship and a decades-old pact.
Julie Smith YollesÂ
For Handelman, theater and Jewish community life often went hand in hand growing up in West Bloomfield. Between Adat Shalom, Camp Tamarack, BBYO and shows at West Bloomfield High and Bloomfield Players, performing became part of her everyday life.
Leslie Ann Handelman
In 1999, the summer after graduating high school, Handelman landed her first professional role appearing in musical revues and murder mysteries on the Michigan Star Clipper dinner train in Walled Lake.
“I'm still friends with so many of the people I performed with on the train. And I've worked with some of them at Meadow Brook. Really, my first performance family I met was on the dinner train,†Handelman says.
That sense of theatrical family has continued throughout Handelman's career. Always a Bridesmaid marks her ninth production at Meadow Brook since first appearing there in 2010.
“Working at Meadow Brook has been like a love affair ever since,†says Handelman, who reunites on stage with Dani Cochrane, Cheryl Turski and Stephanie Wahl.
“I've had the great fortune to work with them separately at Meadow Brook. And now I get to share the stage with all three of them, along with the others who make up the rest of the cast. It feels like I'm working with my best friends every day. We get along fabulously. It's a gift to work with such talented, kind and thoughtful humans.â€
Handelman describes Always a Bridesmaid as a “Southern charmer†that unfolds over 30 years. Penned by the playwriting trio Jones Hope Wooten, the comedy follows four friends who make a promise in high school to stand up in each other's weddings.
“I love to describe this play as a door-slamming, over-served, ridiculous bridesmaid dress farce. Things go wrong at weddings in real life. Things go really wrong at the weddings in this play,†Handelman jokes. “There are four scenes in the play, each featuring a different character getting married. As one might expect, different things go wrong at each wedding. It's very funny. We do a lot of laughing.â€
CURTAIN CALLS AND CARPOOLS
For Handelman, life as a working actor has long meant balancing family with rehearsals, performances and travel.
Long before she was married, Handelman would drive to regional theater auditions throughout the Midwest from her home base of Chicago. When she auditioned in Michigan, she would stay with her parents, Nancy and Bill Handelman. Handelman's first Actors Equity contract in Michigan was at the now-closed Jewish Ensemble Theatre in Kitty Dubin's The Blank Page in 2009.
While she's performing in Always a Bridesmaid, Handelman's husband, Michael Bokor, is back in Chicago with their 8-year-old twins.
“Bless her heart,†Handelman laughs. “My grandma used to call my then-fiancé ‘Michael Bokor Tov,'†a cheeky nod to the Hebrew phrase boker tov, meaning good morning.
When Handelman performed in Shear Madness last year at Meadow Brook, she would drive to Chicago every Sunday night after rehearsal or a performance and have 24 hours with her family before heading back to Michigan.
“I needed to do that last year to help my family and set them up for success because they were being so patient and encouraging me to go shake my tail feathers,†says Handelman. “This time around, it's not our first rodeo, and my husband and I sat down and looked at a calendar and figured out what makes sense.â€
While she's not driving back to Chicago every week this time around, Handelman has provisions in her contract allowing time off to attend her twins' competitive Irish dance competitions.
“I'm learning how to be a dance mom,†she laughs. “We have a standing FaceTime date every night and a standing phone call in the car on the way to school every morning. And my husband is doing an awesome job solo parenting. And my kids are like, ‘Mom who?'â€
Though they only celebrate Chanukah in the Bokor household, Michael and Leslie's daughters once became concerned that Santa “was going to accidentally stop at our house instead of the next-door neighbors.
Front Row (L to R): Kennedy Vernengo as Understudy and Princess Beyoncé Jones as Understudy. Middle Row (L to R): Dani Cochrane as Charlie Collins, Milika Chereé as Monette Gentry, Leslie Ann Handelman as Deedra Wingate, and Kasie Buono Roberts as Kari Ames-Bissette. Back Row (L to R): Cheryl Turski as Libby Ruth Ames and Stephanie Wahl as Sedalia Ellicott
“So I asked them, ‘Do you want to leave a note for Santa that says something like ‘Don't stop here. Go next door to Maggie's house?'†And they said, ‘Can we leave a treat?'
“So now our household tradition on Christmas Eve is leaving latkes, Chanukah cookies and carrots along with a note for Santa that says, ‘Fly safe, skip our house, but fly safe.'â€
TICKETS:
Meadow Brook Theatre is located on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Tickets range from $40-$48 and are available by calling the Meadow Brook Theatre box office at (248) 377-3300 or going online to www.ticketmaster.com. Student discounts are available at the box office. Groups of eight or more should call (248) 370-3316 for group pricing. For more information, go to www.mbtheatre.com.
This production of Always a Bridesmaid is made possible through the generous support of the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, Michigan Arts and Culture Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Meadow Brook Theatre Guild.
