John Hughes fans, get ready: Local production company Blue Monkey Theater has adapted Hughes’ best-known Brat Pack flick, The Breakfast Club, to the bounds of a small room on Southeast Foster Road. This is a nearly word-for-word translation from screen to stage, and it is surprisingly well done.
Screen-to-stage adaptation is so infrequently attempted that this show deserves an audience for its ambition alone. The Breakfast Club works well for these purposes, as most of the story takes place in one room (a high school library).
Set and lighting designer Laura Wiley does an excellent job of creating the illusion of multiple rooms in such a small space. Most notable is the clever use of the theater’s hallway and exit door, which become the high school’s hallway and the entrance to the set library.
Director John Monteverde, who directs most of Blue Monkey’s shows, chose to incorporate the movie’s soundtrack into his stage adaptation¬—a wise choice, as The Breakfast Club‘s soundtrack was a major contributor to its success representing high school angst.
Unfortunately, the music often pre-empted its cue and twice songs broke off abruptly. In the opening scene, an ambitious projection of quotations and who-knows-what-else went very awry, an obvious case of technical difficulty. Although the production is obviously (and charmingly) low budget, it is important to recognize when an idea cannot be successfully executed. It might help the play if the opening projection was cut out entirely.
As for the high school students who have been sentenced to all-day Saturday detention, the “brain,” Brian Johnson (Tony Zilka) and the “basket case,” Allison Reynolds (Tali Avni) are the stand-outs. Zilka is on-point throughout the show, entirely convincing as Brian, and both Zilka and Avni are consistently and humorously in character, even when they are not the center of the audience’s attention.
The “criminal,” John Bender (Ken Potts), is a little overacted, but the character and his lines almost demand such an exaggerated representation. This is a tough character to portray and, compared to his movie counterpart Judd Nelson, Potts doesn’t pull it off. He isn’t hard enough. Potts’ Bender is more vulnerable and less threatening than the Bender of the silver screen, and kind of a goof. He’s more of a down-and-out class clown than an actual rebel. It is possible to believe Potts’ portrayal, but it requires an open mind.
The “princess,” Claire Standish (Emily Kelly), does a fine job, and her resemblance to Molly Ringwald is striking.
James O’Hanlon as the “jock,” Andy Clark, is the only one that’s really not working. O’Hanlon seems uncomfortable onstage and cannot quite break into his character. As a high school jock sentenced to detention for attacking another student and “taping his buns together,” he’s impossible to buy.
Overall, this production of The Breakfast Club is fun, enthusiastic and true to the original. If you’re a fan of John Hughes movies or know a 15-year-old who could use a night out, this is a low-key and entertaining evening.
The show runs about two hours, with one intermission. The theater is on the second floor of an apparently poorly ventilated building, and the room can become too warm. If you want to stay comfortable then don’t wear a sweater.