Actor Caroline O'Connor gives a textured, nuanced (and incredibly funny) interpretation of different stages in women's lives in her solo show, Bombshells. As we know, a one-person show is incredibly difficult to pull off. But O'Connor manages to enthrall her audience for more than two hours.
Some low-key special effects also rivet the audience's attention. The production team uses traditional theatrical elements such as backlit projections to brilliant effect. These effects serve to enhance the intimacy and human scale of the piece. It's a perfect match for O'Connor's ability to reveal authentic characters, whether they happen to be a young bride, a loud-mouthed teenager or a contemplative widow.
A bit of local background: This is the perfect time of year for the Milwaukee Repertory Theater to bring in someone for a solo performance. The rest of the repertory actors are preparing to appear across the hall (literally) in A Christmas Carol, staged at the historic Pabst Theater.
Back to Bombshells. It would be difficult to pinpoint "favorite" moments in the show, as each vignette varies in pacing, style and delivery. For instance, those audience members who are mothers supervising a clutch of young children will certainly identify with the frenzied pace of O'Connor's first character. As a young mom, she careens through the script at lightning speed, barely able to take a breath between sentences. Once O'Connor (as the mother) has everyone fed, taken to school, put down for a nap, driven to after-school activities, etc., she wonders where the day has gone.
As the afternoon proceeds, she makes critical self-comments. Her typical mother's guilt makes the piece all the funnier. One example: after making a perceived misstep with her children, she deadpans: "I might as well line them up and shoot them."
O'Connor is a new face to Milwaukee audiences. We hope it's not one that will stay away for long. She has an extensive list of professional credits, including her Broadway debut in 2002 when she took over the role of Velma Kelly in the musical, Chicago. Physically, she is a diminutive waif with an incredibly big voice, which she uses effectively in a couple of skits. She is English-born with Irish parents and has spent much of her life in Australia. This lineage is evident onstage in many of O'Connor's accents and movements. Notably, she has performed Bombshells in four countries: Australia, Canada, England and Scotland. This is her U.S. debut with the show.
Mark Clements, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's new artistic director, directs the production with a sort of gleeful intensity. He adds a particularly hilarious piece near the end -- one intended for Milwaukeeans familiar with the old TV show, "Laverne and Shirley" (which supposedly was filmed in Milwaukee)
The only slight quibbles with the show are its running time and title. At least half the vignettes could be sharpened by editing 5-10 minutes. Please note: This does NOT apply to the vignette in which O'Connor, as a feisty teenager, makes a last-minute decision about her presentation in a school talent show. She starts as a girl wearing an outfit from Cats who quickly rigs the costume into urban gear for dancing to the title tune from the movie, "Shaft."
The show's title is a bit problematic as well. At first hearing, Bombshells might connote a play with a military theme or one that features buxom chorus girls. Neither is the case. A more appropriate title may draw in more viewers.
