Allison Montroy
amontroy@mustangdaily.net
How is it that in one night the president of a country club barters away $100,000 and his wife’s antique shop, watches as his engaged employees fall apart over a missing ring and kisses a woman other than his wife while his wife kisses that woman’s ex-husband/his biggest rival?
Welcome to the Melodrama.
Walk through the curtained doors of the western-like building on Front Street in Oceano, and it’s as if time has turned back to 1901. Deep burgundy drapes cascade over the windows, sawdust covers the floor and wooden benches line wooden walls as a pianist taps a tune in the front corner of a stage transformed into the Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville’s latest comedy: Ken Ludwig’s “The Fox on the Fairway.”
This parody of golf tournament drama between country club rivals is one of seven different plays performed onstage throughout this year, most performed with a “melodrama” twist.
A melodrama is a genre of drama used in the Victorian era to talk about events of the time. It was a comment on what was happening in society, with exaggerated performances and a caricature-like cast.
And in 1975, owners John and Lynne Schlenker brought the drama to Oceano.
“I think what makes it fun is that you can bring people who don’t typically go to theater,” artistic director Nova Cunningham said. “And they will have a great time. Every age is going to have a fantastic time. These days, we also do more of a mixed bill, not just melodramas.”
Small, round tables sit in the center of the audience, while long table-benches crowd the back and sides of the theater, and people are sharing pitchers of beer and American-style dinners all around.
Aerospace engineering junior Tyler Johnson went to his first show at the Melodrama earlier this month to see the “The Fox on the Fairway” in its third week of production.
The slapstick humor and bouncing conversations between mixed-up lovers and nervous country club competitors had the entire audience, from the girl celebrating her “sweet sixteen” in the front row, to the couple married for 47 years in the back corner, laughing.
“It was definitely one of the most funny and interesting shows I have seen in my three years at Poly,” Johnson said, blaming the show for “making you laugh until your cheeks hurt.”
To Johnson, the show was a refreshing change of scenery for a weekend night.
The experience was “far more unique and creative than many other things college students can do for entertainment in the area,” Johnson said.
Locals, tourists and dedicated subscribers fill the room, some in groups, some alone and some on dates — all laughing.
“It’s just something you can do that’s out of SLO, but still something awesome on the Central Coast,” said Cunningham, who joined the Melodrama as an actress in the 1990s. “It’s a great getaway from school. And truly, it’s a ton of fun. It’s such a great theater to be a part of.”
And the laughs don’t end when the curtain falls.
After the feature performance, the actors climbed onstage once more, decked head-to-toe in matching outfits, for a “vaudeville” show of different skits and songs all based on one theme. Saturday night, it was “stars.”
Jim Carrey and Julie Andrews visited “Starstrucks Coffee,” the ensemble belted mash-ups of “shining star,” “star-spangled banner” and Smash Mouth, all in tribute to different kinds of stars.
In Cunningham’s eyes, the theater itself is a lucky star.
“We’re lucky enough to have been made a Central Coast icon for the past 38 years,” she said. “We’re just a pleasant find in this middle of nowhere town called Oceano.”
Ticket prices range from $18 to $22, but the Melodrama gives a $2 discount to students and offers coupons for $15 tickets in the New Times.