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| Marcel Beabeau |
Allison Comfortable stars as Millicent, an ambitious and high strung dental assistant who falls for one Colonel Fortescue (played by stage veteran, Lyle Coventry-Topping). A series of society soirees are the backdrop for misunderstandings, gaffes, malaprops and innuendo. Whether Millicent finds true love is best left for the viewer to find out, but it is the madcap journey that will leave you both laughing and contemplating some of life's great mysteries.
The production marks quite a comeback for the mercurial Beubeau whose career was seemingly on the wane after his previous play, Blintzes, Blitzes and oh Blimey! closed after the first act earlier this year.
Of course Beaubeau first earned notoriety with his operetta, Knaves, Scoundrels and Buttered Scones which has delighted audiences ever since its 1983 opening at the Faux Champs-Élysées in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Like his current play, Knaves is a delightful send off on post-modern mores and the eccentricities of the daringly middle class.
In addition to plays and operettas, the diminutive Beabeau has written novels, screenplays, short stories, film and theater criticism and recipes. (His recipe for chickpea pie won international awards including the prestigious Gastronomical Monthly Best Burp of 2006 Award.)
Most notable of the French-American’s prose is his 1994 novel, Eternal Night and the Chocolate Raspberry Soufflé, a comedy of manners that spoofs high society, limbo dancers and methadone clinics.
It should be acknowledged that Beabeau’s criticism itself has drawn criticism for his alleged overuse of such adjectives as super duper, repugnant, dynamite, repellant, peachy, malodorous, boffo and stink city. Beaubeau has in fact been called the most hyperbolic reviewer and critic of the past fifty years. He was dismissed as the regular theater critic for Don Knotts High School’s school paper, The Purple Panther. The school, located in Hysteria, North Carolina’s, has kept Beabeau on as its lunch menu consultant.
The irascible Beabeau was also let go as theater and film critic by The Singapore Sling, that country’s alternative weekly and Pencil Holder Aficionado Magazine. However he still writes reviews for Sherpa Monthly, Field & Stream and Pravda.
Struggles with the critical end of writing aside, Beabeau remains a beloved figure and his latest screenplay, The Berlin Express Serves Strawberry Cheesecake, is in pre-production with Beabeau’s long-time collaborator and one-time paramour, Cheryl Camelbottom, on board to direct — Joe Pesci and Ariana Grande will co-star.
Beaubeau is also set to release a book of his short stories — some never before published — named for his most famous piece of short fiction, Tuna Salad on Toast With Unsweetened Ice Tea, A Blaine Upback Mystery. The Blaine Upback mysteries, of course, spawned the popular detective series, Upback in the Outback about a former big city detective who moves to rural Australia to solve crimes in the aboriginal culinary community. Upback in the Outback can be found on the streaming platform, Sponge (currently available in Idaho, Montana, southern New Hampshire, Romania and most urban centers in East Africa.)
I’ve known Beabeau and his wife, the former child star Hortense Dumpling, for twenty years. We met on the set of his short film, Sammy Sixpence and the Cheese Soufflé Murders, which co-starred Tracy Morgan and Angela Lansbury as Sammy Sixpence and his wife Ophelia. Beabeau was the writer-director and I a fledgling young actor playing the court reporter, Rupert Zix.
Marcel and I have kept in touch over the years and collaborated on a few screenplays. I am godfather to his sixth child, Bo. In fact Bo Beaubeau is an aspiring young actor who recently landed a role on the sitcom, Hey, It’s Rutherford, as the wacky neighbor, Clive. Bo is not the first Beabeau child to go into the entertainment industry, Beaubeau’s second daughter, JoJo Beaubeau is a set designer who garnered an Oscar nod for her work on David Fincher’s 2018 period piece (written by the senior Beabeau) Chicken Pot Pie, Salad and the Haymarket Riots, in which Marcel had a cameo as President Grover Cleveland.
It’s truly been a wonderful life for Beau Squared, as his friends call him. But obviously there is still more to come. The rave reviews for Hors d’oeuvres Will Be Served Promptly at 8:00 likely mean we’ll be seeing the play on Broadway in the very near future and the Coen Brothers — among others — have already inquired about film rights.
I spoke to my Marcel Beaubeau recently and asked him what was next.
“I am currently finishing a Carrot Raisin Salad based novella set during the closing days of World War I. After that I’m looking forward to developing a screenplay based on Bathsheba Himmler’s wonderful book, Trout Almondine for Two,which is a whimsical look at the smelting industry.”
“You go from one project to the next seemingly without a break,” I told my friend.
“Yes, I’m always cooking up something. Indeed, I’m also working on another recipe book, this one for variations on fish-based casseroles with accompanying desserts.”
“I’m so impressed. Your energy seems boundless.”
“I owe a lot to a healthy life style including a diet heavy in roughage but with liberal consumption of strudels and puddings.”
“I’d wish you good luck, but you seem to have so much talent that it is unnecessary.”
“Thank you, mon amie. I owe so much to good friends like you. Let’s get together soon for a longer chat and some cannoli.”
I look forward to future conversations with Marcel but am even more excited about his future projects. I’ll be jetting up to Moose Jaw next weekend to see Hors d’oeuvres Will Be Served Promptly at 8:00 which, by the way, is ably directed by Beaubeau’s baby sister, Flo Beaubeau. As you are no doubt aware, Flo is engaged to film director Cameron Crowe. Thus as of next summer she will be Flo Beabeau-Crowe. The couple will settle in Stowe, Vermont, with Flo’s son from a previous marriage, Moe.
Meanwhile Marcel’s erstwhile wife, Hortense is trodding the boards doing dinner theater in Uzbekistan. She’s currently appearing in one of her hubby’s earlier plays, Homemade Brioche and the Mystery of the Missing Skillet. Not to be missed.
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