Rave Reviews for "Steel Magnolias"

The Valley Players production of “Steel Magnolias” by Robert Harling was a huge success. People are still talking about the production being "the best the Valley Players has done" and "You made me laugh and cry and think... all the aspects of great theater" And the cast had a great time too. Shown on June 27-29; July 4-6 and 11-13, 2003. Show times are at  8 p.m. except for Sunday, July 13 which has one matinee only at 2 p.m.

   Directed by Mitchell Kontoff, the talented cast comes from all over central  Vermont. The action of this touching and funny play is set in Truvy’s beauty salon in Chinquapin   Louisiana  , where all the ladies who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle, who is not sure if she is married or not (played by Emma Peterson of Waterbury Center), the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy (Jenifer Tuck, Waitsfield) dispenses shampoos and free advice to a variety of characters who come to her shop. The town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, (“I’m not crazy, I’ve just been in a bad mood for forty years”) is played by Roberta Harold of Montpelier  and her best friend, the eccentric and mildly sarcastic grande dame, Miss Clairee, is played by Jennifer Howard of Fayston.  Shelby (played by Jill Rolfe of Montpelier ) is about to marry a “good ole boy,” and her devoted mother M’Lynn is played by Andra Kisler of Warren. Filled with hilarious repartee and not a few acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions from this amiable and funny cast of characters, the play is “…suffused with humor and tinged with tragedy.”  This modern classic is about love, the strength of friendships and the resilience of the human spirit. 

A video tape is available for loan email us.