Best Night Ever: A Bachelor(ette) Night
Reviewed by Katie Buenneke
The Pig ‘N Whistle at the Hollywood Fringe Festival
Closed
The fun concept of writer-director Katy Foley’s Best Night Ever: A Bachelor(ette) Night is that you, the audience, show up at a bar and get in a limo for a bachelor or bachelorette party, and nothing goes to plan, in all the most entertaining ways. But the execution of the idea proves more difficult to pull off than anticipated, leaving you in this weird place in between immersion and alienation.
When you arrive at the Pig ‘N Whistle before the show/party officially starts, it’s hard to tell who’s part of the cast and who’s just there for the ride like you are. After choosing between a bachelor or bachelorette party, you mingle with the rest of the bridal party, including Blanche (Karlie Blair), the uptight maid of honor; Rick (Tommy Bechtold), the freewheeling best man, and Jack (Terence Leclere), the bride’s brother who’s having trouble adjusting to the marriage. And then, of course, the bride, Kate (Foley) and groom, Leo (Sean Will) arrive, just in time to whisk you into your respective limos. I opted for the bachelorette party, so I’m not sure what all happened in the bachelor party (balloon animals were somehow involved), but Blanche told me she was very glad that Kate’s wild child best friend Mack wouldn’t be able to make it as she’s incarcerated, so of course it’s no surprise to see actress Lena Valentine show up in a jumpsuit, fresh out of jail.
While we’re in the limo, Kate and Will get into a fight and contemplate breaking up, which drives Kate both literally and figuratively to the house of Derek A (Michael Silver), Kate’s ex who is, conveniently, a stripper who joins the party. Whether Kate and Leo ultimately reconcile is ultimately up to the audience. It’s a strange situation to be in, being asked to weigh in on the lives of not just people you don’t know, but characters you don’t know — characters who lack the complexity and detailed, lived experience of real people. And that’s the general sensation of Best Night Ever, teetering between fun and the unknown. Perhaps for some people, that place, the “funknown” is a great place, but for me, it was a little off-putting. At the beginning of the night, before choosing between the bachelor party and the bachelorette party, everyone signs a waiver agreeing not to sexually assault the cast or do anything similar. It’s the first time I’ve signed a waiver like that at the theater, but I’m glad they had one. The booze flows freely in the limo, and the point of the show is to blur the lines between narrative and reality, so it seems like it would be all too easy for things to get out of hand quickly.
The Pig ‘N Whistle, 6714 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; Closed. https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/6239. Running time: one hour and 10 minutes with no intermission, not including pre-show entertainment.
