'Beverly Hillbillies' needs some fixin'.

AuthorKolas, Paul
PositionLiving

Byline: Paul Kolas

'The Beverly Hillbillies'

1/2

Paul Henning & adapted by David Rogers, directed by Dave Glanville. At Stageloft Repertory Theater, 450A Main St., Sturbridge. Performances at 8 p.m. Friday & Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, through March 16. Tickets: $18 adults, $16 seniors 65 and older, $8 students 12 and younger. For reservations, call (508) 347-9005, or visit www.stageloft.com. With Candy Schap. Mike Reppucci, Julianne McGourty, Jimmy Strong, Sue Strong, Harry Pearson, Celia Daniels, Carol Sweny-Reppucci, Jane Benedetto, Mark Bourdeau, Taylor Plumley, Deven Dupuis, Ethan DeSota, Shalom DeSota, Maddie McKenney-Lydick, Julie-Ann Ginsberg, Ellen Cornely and Germaine Fernandes.

STURBRIDGE -- Let's be honest about this. "The Beverly Hillbillies'' is critic-proof.

Writing a serious review of Stageloft Repertory Theater's latest production is equivalent to writing a thesis on the intellectual acuity of the Kardashian Family.

In other words, it's a hopeless enterprise. So leave your IQ at the door, and relinquish yourself to the Clampett family, the undisputed masters of low-brow humor.

There were some major issues with director Dave Glanville's yuck fest on Saturday night: Actors forgetting their lines; occasional moments of unintended silence; pacing that wavered like Jethro's attention span. Things that can be remedied and elevate the show, if not to Tony Award level, then certainly something resembling the TV show it's based on.

But, by golly, even in its still "fixer-upper'' opening weekend condition, darned if it ain't pretty funny.

Two performances need no fixin' at all: Candy Schap's Granny Clampett and Julianne McGourty's Elly Mae Clampett.

Schap blazes through her feisty portrayal of the family matriarch like a bobcat through an Ozark brush fire.

She's so authoritatively good, you almost nod your head in agreement when she tells son-in-law Jed Clampett (Mike Reppucci) that Elly Mae will be too old to marry when she turns 18. McGourty, sporting a blonde, pig-tailed wig, projects the perfect blend of tomboy and sex appeal, a buxom wildcat capable of carrying "cute strangers'' slung over her shoulder, as if they're just another pet to add to her collection.

The goofy humor is also reasonably well attended to by Reppucci's gravelly-voiced Jed, who tells Elly Mae, "Nature made you a girl an' here, lately, she's been gittin' more an' more positive about it.''

Jimmy Strong gets in his share of laughs, too, as hayseed Jethro...

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