REVIEW: “Steel Magnolias” at the Sharon Playhouse

REVIEW: “Steel Magnolias” at the Sharon Playhouse by Macey Levin

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling was originally seen off-Broadway in 1987 and made into a film in 1989. It has sustained its role as an iconic play about a group of women who gather in Truvy’s small town Louisiana home-hair salon where they share pithy observations along with personal heartache. Harling’s play is based on his sister who died at an early age due to diabetes. Sharon, Connecticut’s, Sharon Playhouse has mounted an engrossing production tempered by witty dialogue delivered by six stellar actresses. Though it has many comic moments this story emphasizes the humanity that binds the lives of neighbors and friends.

Truvy’s salon is a home-away-from-home where the women bicker, gossip and argue as they reveal the history of their lives together in the confines of this tight little world. The major story line that evolves follows Shelby (Etta Grover) as she prepares for her wedding. This event allows the women to discuss their husbands, children and life in general amid the fumes of hair spray with liberal dashes of Southern wisdom and eccentricity. Shelby’s mother M’Lynn (Marinell Crippen) is concerned about Shelby’s
becoming pregnant as she is a severe diabetic. Doctors have warned mother and daughter that this might endanger her life. A year and a half after the wedding Shelby announces that she is carrying a child to her delight and her mother’s dismay…