The wild and wacky Virginia-Ginny (Laurie Metcalf) and the dead-pan Nate (French Stewart) with his one-line zingers brought the short, breezy “Voice Lessons” to boisterous life at the Zephyr Theatre.  Gina had a mobile face and body, a large personality, a small but LOUD singing voice and a determination that nothing would stop her from following her dream to take voice lessons and be a star.  Nate, on the other hand, was a snobbish music teacher who finally consented to give Gina voice lessons because he could not resist the money.  Gina tracked Nate down (he would not return calls), showed up at his house and they were off...  

Gary Guidinger designed Nate’s living room on a set that was small yet mobile enough for the actors that they could talk, laugh, fuss and even get serious all over the room.  There was even a window seat that looked so cozy that I wished I could have stretched out on it to watch the performance.    

Playwright Justin Tanner used laughter to introduce Gina and Nate to the audience and Bart DeLorenzo (director) put two experienced actors through their paces.  I do not think I will forget such lines as “…moments of extreme awkwardness also known as love” or “my shortcomings help other people find themselves.”   Memorable lines flew fast and furious yet Mr. Tanner still got the audience to see the people beneath the laughter.  It was fascinating to watch the over-exuberant Ginny emote all over the stage and then suddenly throw in a short, quiet moment of truth.  Equally absorbing was the realization that the supposedly long-suffering Nate also had a dark side.  However Tanner used a third character Sheryl (Maile Flanagen) to illustrate this and I found her entrance a little disconcerting.  Maybe introducing her via Nate and Gina’s conversation might have been enough.  In any case, Ms. Flanagen moved right into the middle of the story and held her own and that is saying something, considering she was going up against the high-spirited Ms. Metcalf.  With all of this amplification, act 2 was screaming to be heard! 

Playwright Justin Tanner wrote almost an hour of fun with snappy dialogue that was hilariously performed with great timing by a manic Ms. Metcalf, a droll Mr. Stewart and a hyper cameo by Ms. Flanagan.  The whole thing buzzed by so fast that I am not completely sure about everything I saw but like a delicious bowl of melting ice cream on a hot Sunday afternoon, I sure enjoyed it.