MANSFIELD — It was Plato who originally suggested human beings seem to be attracted to their opposites.
But for all his wisdom, it’s unlikely the famed Greek philosopher could have foreseen local actress Maureen Browning and the character Charlotte Hay in “Moon Over Buffalo,” which opens Friday night at the Mansfield Playhouse.
Strip it down, and Hay stands as Browning’s complete contrast in the script by comedy script writer Ken Ludwig.
“I like the depths of Charlotte,” the Madison Comprehensive High School graduate said before a dress rehearsal Tuesday evening as the Playhouse prepares to launch its 100th season in Mansfield.
“She is kind of everything I am not,” she said with a laugh. “She’s narcissistic. She wants to be a movie star and I really never did want to do that.”
So why has Browning chosen to portray the aging Broadway star for a third time in her career, a role first played on Broadway by legendary comedienne Carol Burnett in 1995?
“She has this fame about her that’s kind of neat. She’s doing something that she absolutely loves to do and she’s doing it with the love of her life and her child,” said Browning, who has performed around north central Ohio for 25 years.
“She has this whole world right there in front of her,” said Browning, returning to the Playhouse stage for the first time since September 2024 in the comedy “Caught in the Net.”
What is this all about, anyway?
“Moon Over Buffalo is a 1953-set farce about fading husband-and-wife actors, George and Charlotte Hay, who are performing in repertory in Buffalo, N.Y., with the shows “Private Lives” and “Cyrano De Bergerac.”
On the verge of divorce and financial ruin, their careers get a potential last shot at stardom when legendary director Frank Capra announces he will come to see their matinee, perhaps casting them in his upcoming film.
Chaos ensues as their daughter, Rosalind, arrives with her fiancé, Howard, along with the Hay’s attorney, Richard, who is in love with Charlotte.
George’s dalliance with a young actress threatens to expose their secrets and mistaken identities and drunken antics lead to a comical disaster.
(Below are photos from Tuesday’s dress rehearsal from the comedy “Moon Over Buffalo” at the Mansfield Playhouse. The show opens Friday night on a five-show run. The story continues below the images.) (Photo credit: Zac Hiser/Richland Source)
Doug Wertz, the Playhouse artistic director, thinks Browning has found a stage home with Hay — and has the ability to adapt her performance with different casts each time.
Return of Carol Burnett
Legendary TV star Carol Burnett made her return to Broadway in 1995 in “Moon Over Buffalo” as Charlotte Hay. It was her first turn on Broadway in 30 years.
She and Broadway veteran Philip Bosco, who played George Hay, were both nominated for Tony awards for their performance in the comedy.
Directed by Tom Moore, “Moon Over Buffalo” opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on Oct. 1, 1995. It ran for 309 performances after 22 previews and an out-of-town tryout in Boston.
“We bring our experience and our love of (theater). That’s all you can do,” Burnett said of her return to the biggest stage.
“When anybody repeats a role, they have found a very strong comfort level in developing that role. However, with each cast, your timing and chemistry can be different and Maureen adjusts to that very well.
“She is a veteran and she has grown tremendously over the years that I’ve known her. Her timing and her expressions and her energy are just wonderful,” Wertz said. “You can’t help but have fun when she is on stage.”
Browning, a frequent performer at the Alcove Dinner Theatre in Mount Vernon, said any female actress welcomes the opportunity to play a role established by someone like Carol Burnett.
She has seen bits and pieces of Burnett’s work in a documentary done on the making of the play. But it’s not her intention to mimic the comic legend.
“It’s always nice when someone compliments you and says you’re just as funny or you did the role really well, but I don’t want to be Carol Burnett. I just want to be myself,” she said.
Browning’s husband this time is Playhouse veteran Carl Hunnell, portraying the aging and increasingly desperate George Hay, who turns to the bottle as his world crumbles around him.
Hunnell was most recently on the Playhouse stage in February in the comedy, “Said the Spider to the Spy.”
“It’s so much fun because Carl plays the desperate husband trying to win back everything that he screwed up in order to make the couple successful once again. When he feels like it’s falling apart, he doesn’t handle the stress very well,” Wertz said.
“So Carl takes on the the inebriation of the character and carries him through as far as he can go. Fortunately (by the end), he comes back nice and sober and it’s a great, great time. The energy level of the entire cast is just so much fun,” Wertz said.
“Moon Over Buffalo”
Cast:
George Hay — Carl Hunnell
Charlotte Hay — Maureen Browning
Ethel — Suzanne Allen
Paul — Jeffery Hutchison
Rosalind — Liana Ashbrook
Howard — Adam Turner
Richard — Dave Pheneger
Eileen — DeeDee Welshans
Directed by Doug Wertz
Show dates and times: Sept. 5-6 and Sept. 12-13 at 8 p.m. Sept. 14 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors. Buy them online at www.mansfieldplayhouse.com or by calling the Mansfield Playhouse box office at 419-522-2883 Wednesday through Friday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and one hour prior to all performances.
Hunnell said he loved the script when he read it over the summer.
“George Hay is such a human character, complete with all the weaknesses and character flaws we all have,” he said. “He has given his life to the theater and really doesn’t seem to understand he is his own worst enemy in terms of achieving his dreams.
“This is such a great cast for this show,” Hunnell said. “One of the things I love about performing at the Playhouse is reuniting with old friends and making new ones.
“And Maureen is a treasure to share the stage with. Like the true wife and mother, she keeps us all together on stage, trying to move us forward.”
The eight-member ensemble also features two performers new to the Playhouse stage in Adam Turner (Howard) and Dave Pheneger (Richard). Wertz said he is always looking for “new blood” for the community theater stage.
Turner has acted in local films and Pheneger has performed in church productions. But it’s the first time for both at the 95 E. Third St. theater.
“When Adam decided, to take on this role, he took it to heart really quick,” Wertz said. “He understood the character and it fits him to a ‘T.’ He breaks me up every single night. His expressions and his inflections and his physicality really work out well.
“He is a great cast member for this type of production.”
“Dave, unfortunately, gets to play the straight man in this part. And that’s not always an easy role to play when you got all this other goofiness to be playing around. But here he is trying to be a bit of a jokester and it’s hard to compete when you’re dealing with a cast of theatrical people within the show,” Wertz said.
“He’s really doing a good job.”
