Review: Pam Harbaugh's Delightful, Award-Winning CASSEROLE at the Early Bird Dinner Theatre

"It's only love and that is all..." --from the Beatles' "It's Only Love," played at the opening of CASSEROLE

"When a woman makes a casserole, she's connected to God." --Claire in CASSEROLE

I wish more people in the world were like Claire Wilson. As the central character in Pam Harbaugh's endearing, award-winning CASSEROLE, she exudes such enthusiasm, liveliness, acceptance, strength, quirkiness and, best of all, love. Speaking in a midwestern accent with enough "doncha knows" and "You betchas" to make Fargo-fans happy, Claire is a gem of a soul, a godly woman who doesn't condemn or even judge. She celebrates her bizarre recipes with a smile and a hug, and she represents the very best of us. She may not be perfect, but she comes mighty close.

CASSEROLE, which is getting a top-notch treatment at the Early Bird Dinner Theatre in Clearwater, is a delightful dish. It comes near but ultimately strays from being too preachy, and it's way too much fun to be a soap box rant for equality. Sure, it teeters on being sit-com cute at times, and sometimes it seems way too easy and safe. But as I write that, I also realize that the play is also secretly ballsy, especially when it uses Claire and her husband, Leonard, to explore reactions to LGBTQ issues, including trans rights.

The play is set in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 2015, and the year is not chosen at random: It's the highwater mark for the gay community with the legalization of same-sex marriage that summer. But everything regarding human rights seems to have gone downhill since. Nowadays, with trans rights under attack, especially in Florida, the play becomes quite daring when, a few years back, it might have been deemed somewhat safe. Not anymore, and certainly not in Florida. You can tell by the audience's reactions, especially to the trans issues which emerge later in the play; some folks in the audience uttered "uh-oh" at times, and their quietly uncomfortable reactions to the first same-sex kiss on the Early Bird stage has been duly noted.

In the show, in a much-familiar situation in so many plays and movies (Norman, Is That You; Boy Erased; etc.), Claire's adult daughter comes out as gay. The mother's reaction is at first shock, then denial, then 100% acceptance. ("Love is love is love," as the actress who strongly inhabits Claire in this production, Georgia Kosloski, wrote in her program bio.) She may don a "Wisconsin Wonder" apron, but Claire is a celebration of the offbeat, the oddball in a seemingly normal Wisconsin setting. Her extremely bizarre recipes, like her special Mayonnaise Casserole or Root Beer Raisin Meatloaf, suddenly become front and center when a New York publishing firm wants to spotlight her in a special cookbook, The Midwest Chef. Cooking is Claire's passion, her art (she's obviously a Surrealist in the kitchen). Mayo is her medium, along with processed cheese and mushroom soup.

Claire is all about accepting others, not just her daughter and her daughter's partner, but her husband who is "narrow minded" at best. She is who she is, no matter how zany the situations have become. She is the personification of exuberant, joyous, embraceable, 100% pure love. As alluded to in the play, if the beloved icon Mr. Rogers turned into a Mrs. Rogers, then that's who she would be.

But then there's Leonard, Claire's exasperated husband, who is such a "stick in the mud" that he doesn't appreciate things outside of the norm, except for maybe his wife's cooking. His fuddy-duddy life is exemplified by a Norman Rockwell painting on the wall, and when it is eventually removed in favor of one of his daughter's abstract works, his organized universe has spiraled into a Mad World. Wearing a white shirt and black tie, looking somewhere between a Book of Mormon Elder and Michael Douglas in Falling Down, Leonard becomes a surrogate for audience members who are not comfortable with the idea of gay or trans issues. It's like the progression of modern society has desecrated their White Wonder Bread Norman Rockwell Lives. But as Leonard learns and slowly changes his worldview, even just a little, these audience members get to see things from a different angle (to quote Jerry Herman). Maybe they, like Leonard, will find a change of heart as well.

Pam Harbaugh, a renowned critic and playwright from Brevard County, has written a love letter of sorts. Dedicated to her late husband, CASSEROLE bubbles with so much flavor.

The cast is simply wonderful.

Georgia Kosloski is Claire Wilson. I can't even use the word "portrays Claire" because she does more than that. She occupies the role; you can't imagine anyone else in the part. Her prayer of thanks to God is one of the most heartfelt moments I've experienced of late. Kosloski has a loving spark onstage; she bursts with such an enthusiastic acceptance that her performance will melt the hearts of even the most anti-woke governors.

As Leonard, Dave Malloy is hilarious, saying more with a grimace than any monologue could. He has a Jim Carrey vibe, his face turning rubber when overreacting to the changing world. He's cartoony in the best sense, a real find. As their daughter, Erica, Brianna Alfieri looks like a young Karen Black. She wears a Rolling Stone t-shirt covered by a plaid button-down shirt and exudes so much likability. Her mysterious partner, Penny, is played winningly by Erin Kearns.

Chase Tomerlin as the haughty New Yorker, Zachary Simmons, is marvelous at showcasing snobbery and a smiley mean-spiritedness at what he deems Midwest dolts. "Middle America at its finest," he purrs in detest when he first enters the Wilson home. He walks around like he's always smelling something horrid and covering it up with a fake Cheshire grin. Michael Kenneth Fahr, as the edgier-looking but more grounded NYC outsider, Nicholas, offers Tomerlin strong support.

The multi-talented director, Jessica Burchfield, has guided this wondrous cast in a splendid production that will make you laugh heartily, wince at times, and enjoy tasting such a savory script and production. If a show can be described as huggable, then this is it. It's like chicken soup for the soul (or, if you're Claire, at least barbecue bacon sushi for the soul).

The set is way too busy, purposely so, like a thrift store turned into a living room. Knick knacks fill the space, with dog paintings, a cheesehead hat, and plastic flowers all over the place. The space is quite wide so that often the actors seem to stand in straight lines when they speak while the work itself, and this world, is anything but straight.

Yes, a food fight eventually erupts at the end. And though it feels rushed to me and the ending is way too pat for my tastes, it's good to see flung food as a wake-up call to all sides of these issues. I'm just glad that the audience didn't participate to turn this into a sort of foodie apocalypse.

The pre-show Early Bird menu was tasty; make sure to come early and get the dessert of your choice before the main course since the cakes and cheesecakes are usually the first to go. I wish Claire's bizarre menu items, including Mayonnaise Casserole, were served as well; call me crazy, but I would like to try one of them...at least once. Her food, like Harbaugh's play itself, comes from an obvious place of pure love. The show's heart is so big that you might want to hug someone immediately after watching it.

CASSEROLE by Pam Harbaugh runs through June 11th at the Early Bird Dinner Theatre.