• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • HOME
  • NEWS+OPINIONS
    • NEWS TO US
    • COLUMNS
      • APPARENT HORIZON
      • DEAR READER
      • Close
    • LONGFORM FEATURES
    • OPINIONS
    • EDITORIAL
    • Close
  • ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
    • FILM
    • MUSIC
    • COMEDY
    • PERFORMING ARTS
    • VISUAL ARTS
    • Close
  • DINING+DRINKING
    • EATS
    • SIPS
    • BOSTON BETTER BEER BUREAU
    • Close
  • LIFESTYLE
    • CANNABIS
      • TALKING JOINTS MEMO
      • Close
    • WELLNESS
    • GTFO
    • Close
  • STUFF TO DO
  • TICKETS
  • ABOUT US
    • ABOUT
    • MASTHEAD
    • ADVERTISE
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • Close
  • BECOME A MEMBER

Dig Bos

The Dig - Boston's Only Newspaper

THE DAMAGE DONE: LOST GIRLS AT TAKE YOUR PICK PRODUCTIONS

Written by CHRISTOPHER EHLERS Posted January 17, 2018 Filed Under: A+E, Performing Arts

Lost Girls review

 

★★★☆☆

 

Life hasn’t been a walk in the park for the Lefebvre ladies, and things aren’t exactly looking up.

 

The three New Hampshire women at the center of Lost Girls, John Pollono’s entertaining but ultimately undercooked play, represent three generations of tough, working-class women that have as much trouble navigating the basics of day-to-day life as they do reconciling the damaged hand that they’ve been dealt.

 

Linda (a terrific Christine Power) is the coarse, wisecracking matriarch who probably voted for Donald Trump and has no problem drinking wine out of a box. She had her daughter Maggie (Audrey Lynn Sylvia, excellent) as a teenager, just as her mother had her. Maggie is a similarly disillusioned yet angrier version of her mother and is one pizza and a six-pack away from bouncing the electric bill. Maggie’s daughter, Erica (Lesley Anne Moreau), is a high school sophomore who seems destined to make the same mistakes as her mother. And she’s missing.

 

Their kitchen table becomes the situation room as Erica’s father, Lou (an affecting Terrence P. Haddad), descends on the house with his new bride, Penny, a God-loving Midwest transplant (played by Lauren Foster) who couldn’t have anything less in common with Maggie. Maggie and Lou were high school sweethearts whose relationship ended traumatically, and even now they can barely interact with one another like two adults.

 

Erica is just fine, by the way. Well, mostly. She’s holed up in a Connecticut hotel with her friend, Boy, played by the endearing Zach Winston. You see—now stay with me—Boy is driving Erica (or Girl, as she is called in the script—get it! They’re universal types!) to Florida to be with her boyfriend, who is more than 20 years her senior. Oh, and the Florida creep is paying Boy to escort Girl down safely.

 

Have I lost you? I can’t blame you.

 

For all of the profound questions being raised here about the inheritance of damage and the impossibility of rising above the hand we’re dealt, Pollono’s play ultimately descends into unbelievable after school special territory that elicits cringes rather than tears. It is almost shocking, in a way, that this snappy 75-minute play is a finished product. While it is nevertheless engaging, it is also, in many ways, a missed opportunity.

 

Director Melanie Garber has done a terrific job with both her fluid, naturalistic staging and the excellent performances that frequently transcend the material. Audrey Lynn Sylvia is an effortlessly barbed Maggie, and Christine Power’s Linda is so delicious that she deserves a play all her own. Lauren Foster’s Penny, though, is unconvincing, and some key scenes lose steam because of it.

 

Despite the fact that Lost Girls isn’t entirely convincing, it remains a thoughtful and perceptive work with a handful of fine performances. Yet for all the gold woven throughout the play, I’m left chewing on what could have been rather than what is.

 

LOST GIRLS. THROUGH 1.21 AT TAKE YOUR PICK PRODUCTIONS, BOSTON CENTER FOR THE ARTS. BOSTONTHEATRESCENE.COM

Christopher Ehlers
CHRISTOPHER EHLERS

Theater critic for TheaterMania & WBUR’s TheArtery | Theater Editor for DigBoston | film and music critic for EDGE Media | Boston Theater Critics Association.

Related posts
  • CHRISTOPHER EHLERS
    https://digboston.com/author/christopher-ehlers/
    DIG THIS: SPRING ARTS PREVIEW EDITION
  • CHRISTOPHER EHLERS
    https://digboston.com/author/christopher-ehlers/
    SUPER SOAKERS: 10 MOISTURIZERS FOR THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER
  • CHRISTOPHER EHLERS
    https://digboston.com/author/christopher-ehlers/
    FILM REVIEW: OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS 2021
  • CHRISTOPHER EHLERS
    https://digboston.com/author/christopher-ehlers/
    THE BEST THEATER IN GREATER BOSTON OF 2020

Filed Under: A+E, Performing Arts Tagged With: BCA, review, theater

WHAT’S NEW

"Spotted Lanternfly, back_2017-06-16-16.50" by Sam Droege is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0

Invasive Spotted Lanternfly Alert!

Morale Violation: Whistle-Blowers Report Culture Of “Retaliation,” “Nepotism” At Parole Agency

Morale Violation: Whistle-Blowers Report Culture Of “Retaliation,” “Nepotism” At Parole Agency

Inbox: "Black Youth File Racial Profiling Complaint Against Medford Police"

Inbox: “Black Youth File Racial Profiling Complaint Against Medford Police”

Mass One Step Closer To New-Prison Moratorium, But Not There Yet

Mass One Step Closer To New-Prison Moratorium, But Not There Yet

Congrats To Worcester On Coming In At #69 On Best Places To Live List

Congrats To Worcester On Coming In At #69 On Best Places To Live List

Mass Supreme Court Sides With Asshole Sheriff In Prison Phone Fee Decision

Mass Supreme Court Sides With Asshole Sheriff In Prison Phone Fee Decision

Primary Sidebar

FEATURED EVENT

Most Popular

  • Morale Violation: Whistle-Blowers Report Culture Of “Retaliation,” “Nepotism” At Parole Agency
  • We Turned the North End Restaurant Lawsuit Against Mayor Wu Into a Musical
  • Do You Want To Work For the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission?
  • Inbox: Red Bull Cliff Diving Returns To Boston Waterfront
  • How Long Can Major Cannabis Cultivators Sustain Massive Indoor Grows In Mass?

CURRENT STREET EDITION

DIG 24.08 – 04/21/22

Footer

Social Buttons

DigBoston facebook DigBoston Twitter DigBoston Instagram

Masthead

About

Advertise

Privacy Policy

Customer Service

Distribution

About Us

DigBoston is a one-stop nexus for everything worth doing or knowing in the Boston area. It's an alt-weekly, it's a website, it's an e-mail blast, it's a twitter account, it's that cool party that you were at last night ... hey, you're reading it, so it's gotta be good. For advertising inquiries: [email protected] To reach Editorial: [email protected] For internship opportunities: [email protected]