To miss Grave Mistakes—the Great American Melodrama’s latest staging, described as a ghostly rom-com—would be a grave mistake, I fear.
The Oceano staple has never failed to make me laugh over the years, but Grave Mistakes is the first of their shows to make me cry, in a good way. Full disclosure: I’ve been going to the Melodrama since I was small enough to fit in their popcorn buckets.
The play was written by Melodrama regular Ben Abbott, whose script dials in the perfect amount of zany humor to please the local theater’s die-hard fans while telling a bittersweet story that culminates in a profoundly moving conclusion.
Abbott has acted in shows at the Melodrama since 2006, while Grave Mistakes—which opened in late January and runs through March 16—marks his first time working as a playwright for the theater, according to the show’s program (consistently stylized as a newspaper titled the Melodrama Oracle, which I’ve always appreciated).
It’s one helluva first outing for Abbott in a writing capacity. Director Eric Hoit brings Abbott’s tale of life, death, and the afterlife to the stage within the confines of an unchanging set, in a well-furnished house occupied by two employees of a publishing company.
Molly (Casiena Raether) is a typewriter-wielding writer working on a new novel whose housemate is also her editor, Ray (Jeff Salsbury). There are enough scenes of awkward tension between the two for the audience to assume they probably have the hots for one another.
Little does Ray know, his deceased father, Bob (Billy Breed), gets front row seats to his courtship of Molly, as Bob is one of the two ghosts who haunt the premises. The other specter is Eloise (Dori Duke), whose spirit hasn’t left the house since the untimely death—due to choking on a grape—of her mortal counterpart decades ago.
Bob, on the other hand, died from drowning during a fishing trip, which explains his fisherman attire, although he doesn’t appear to be sleeping with the fishes, as the idiom suggests.
Throughout the show, Bob attempts to move objects to get Ray’s attention, but it’s usually in vain. The house’s sleazy landlord (Mike Fiore), however, becomes convinced there’s a haunting, and hires a no-nonsense paranormal investigator (Toby Tropper) and an alleged psychic (Julia Mae Abrams) to appraise the residence, with the intention of evicting Ray and Molly and turning the building into a ghost tourist destination.
After the show’s second act finale, the cast members of Grave Mistakes return to the stage for the Melodrama’s new vaudeville revue, titled Whatever the Weather We’ll Weather the Weather Together. Try saying that three times fast, with or without a mouthful of popcorn.
Directed and choreographed by Johnny Keating, this vaudeville act features dance segments set to live covers of weather-themed songs, such as “It’s Raining Men,” with powerhouse lead vocals from Breed. He nails every “Hallelujah” and “Amen” with praiseworthy prowess.
Aside from song and dance routines, this vaudeville’s variety isn’t short of comedy sketches, including one where Tropper plays a TV anchor who reluctantly fills in for a missing weatherman—but without a teleprompter or green screen.
If I treated my theater reviews like weather forecasts, I’d recommend bringing sunscreen to Grave Mistakes. It’s in the high 90s.
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood wishes it would rain popcorn. Send comments to cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 15-25, 2024.