Greetings! A heartwarming holiday play

A heart-warming, engaging play, Greetings!, written by Tom Dudzik, is a story that examines life, love, family-relations, and religion during the Holiday season.
Set in Pittsburgh, a former minor-league baseball player and devote Catholic, who is now an old and embittered man, Phil, played by Charles Merlis, is the family patriarch.
His wife, Emily, played by Lynne Mazotas, is the doting but frustrated wife, who has taken to nagging her husband for spending hours in the basement drinking beer.
They have two sons. One of the sons, Andy, is a successful ad writer in New York, played by Victor Gonzalez, who is bringing his fiancé, Randi, played by Jessica LaRussa, home for the dysfunctional family holidays.
Phil is a devote Catholic, and when he learns that Randi is Jewish, and an atheist to boot, he feels somehow that invalidates own belief system.
The other adult son, Mickey, is autistic, played by Greg Murphy. For some of the play his only words are “Wow” and “Oh Boy!”
Every member of the cast fits their roles as if they were born to them; however, Murphy’s character, which is clearly the most challenging to play, was revelation.
Without giving too much of the plot away, Mickey undergoes a transformation so surprising and convincing, that it is like a miracle.
There is humor in the show too, when Phil says he was so poor growing up “we would take the garbage out, and then bring it back in and eat it again.”
Gonzalez’s Andy is amusing also, when, after the initial shock of Mickey’s transformation, rhetorically asks: “Does anybody remember what normal breathing feels like?”
LaRussa’s Randi is moving when she speaks to her estranged father, and Mazotas’ Emily, was believable as the beleaguered but loving mother and wife.
The surprisingly spacious venue, with dinner theater seating, is attached to Kelly’s Pub, at 69 North Street — tucked away in a residential neighborhood.
This is the new home for Phoenix Theater, which is a vast improvement from their pervious location in a church basement in Glastonbury, and hopefully a space where they will perform for many seasons to come.

Greetings!

Three Stars

Theater: Phoenix Theater

Location: Kelly's Pub, 69 North Street, Manchester

Production: Written by Tom Dudzik. Directed by Dan Coyle. Produced by Chris Ryan and Jessica LaRussa

Running time: One hour and 45 minutes with one intermission.

Show Times: Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.

Tickets: $20. For further information call their box office at
291-2988, or visit their website at www.phoenixtheater.us.

ACTOR...CHARACTER
Victor Gonzalez...Andy
Jessica LaRussa...Randi
Lynne Mazotas...Emily
Greg Murphy...Mickey
Charles Merlis...Phil