Donna Moore - Cougar Cabaret

Tweet this article !

OK…A musical enlightening its audience about the “new” socially acceptable, and so monikered world of the “Cougar” (a mature woman with a taste for younger “Bucks”)? We’ve come a long way, Mrs. Robinson. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I’d get this one and if I did, if I could relate at all,  so I brought a fine young “Buck,” my cousin Gary, with me  to see if he was the right target audience. Well, he was and, so it ends up, was I. Donna Moore, the epitome of what you’d expect a “Cougar” to look and act like, is, and I didn’t need Gary to point this out to me, hot, hot, hot! She’s also a very fine and versatile actress. Solid direction by Robert Brink, and obviously Ms. Moore’s well honed skills, help her to pounce deftly from one scene to the next, keeping up with the often jumpy action, which is clearly unavoidable with so many parts being played by just two performers: the sexy Ms. Moore and her “younger men,” all played with amazing acumen by the hot, hot, hot Danny Bernardy. A slightly larger cast and bigger stage would remedy this jumpiness effectively.

The original score, written by Mark Barken and Donna Moore, with additional music by John Baxindine, Arnie Gross and Meryl Leppard, can also be jumpy, at times going from very pleasing, and what should be necessarily, hip to a bit moon-june. However, superb musical direction by Tracy Stark somehow makes us overlook those times when the lyric just doesn’t stand up to the situations set up in the scene.  The book works, with the exception of the sub plot revolving around the Cougar’s child, which only shortly derailed the flow. This production is, as Co-Producer R.K. Greene told me, “a work in progress,” and if memory serves, he told me four numbers were actually taken out and replaced shortly before the performance I saw. Any quibbles I may have with the production that I mentioned up until now, can all easily be fixed. What makes this show a highly entertaining 70 minutes, are its two stars, whose stage presence transcends. Their strong chemistry, and after all that’s what this show is all about, is so engaging and believable, they could have read the phone book up there and you couldn’t turn away. Leasen Almquist’s choreography, scaled back of course for this space, was sexy and made sense, but I’d like to see it on a bigger stage with a chorus of “Bucks.”

As the story unfolds through Ms. Moore’s exposition, another opportunity which could be dangerous by its nature, but with her solid sense of improvisation might work for a nightclub presentation or Las Vegas run, would be to add a bit more audience interaction. At the show I attended, she asked (breaking the fourth wall) if there were any Gary’s (her first two husband’s name) in the audience. Well, there was one with me, and she playfully, after asking his age (which is 36) asked if he might be her husband number three. Now Gary, a free spirited lad, while obviously jokingly, responded he’d probably be divorce number three.

The nature of this show will probably attract “Cougars” and young “Bucks,” and that dynamic might make the interaction and breaking of the fourth wall very entertaining, as long as Ms. Moore can handle it. My bet is, she sure could and she’d make the pride proud.