By Denny Patterson
Vampire attacks, werewolf sightings, and the resurrection of an Egyptian princess – oh, my!
All of this will make an appearance in Island City Stage’s upcoming production of The Mystery of Irma Vep, a two-person play in three acts that is a satire of several theatrical, literary, and film genres, including Victorian melodrama, farce, the penny dreadful, Wuthering Heights and Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film Rebecca. Written by Charles Ludlam and The Ridiculous Theatrical Company, they are now legends in LGBTQ theater, elevating camp to an art form.
The show will play June 9 – July 10, 2022, and OutClique caught up with one of its stars, prominent South Florida actor Larry Buzzeo, to talk more about it.
Denny Patterson: Thank you for taking some time to chat with me, Larry! What are you looking forward to the most about performing in The Mystery of Irma Vep at Island City Stage?
Larry Buzzeo: Oh, gosh, just the mania of it all! I like to play different characters, which I guess is why I love Shorts Gone Wild so much. I did this show once before for a theater company up in St. Petersburg, Florida, and I swore I would never do it again because there are so many quick changes, a lot of verbiage to learn, and you’re exhausted by the end of every performance. But when Andy said, ‘do you want to do it?’, I was like, yeah, okay, I’m crazy [laughs].
DP: The production is written for two actors who, between them, play eight characters of both sexes. Do you find it easier or more challenging when the cast has 1-2 people?
LB: Definitely more challenging because you only have one person to depend on, and it’s all on you two. I think with bigger productions, you’ve got time to rest in between and whatnot, so for me, smaller casts are more challenging.
DP: Which characters do you play?
LB: I play Lady Enid, who is the new mistress of the house. Lady Irma passed away, so she’s the new bride that Edgar Hillcrest brings home. I also play Nicodemus Underwood, which I’m not sure if he’s going to be a hunchback this time or not. Originally when I did it, he was like a hunchback, Igor type character. He’s the houseman. I play Alcazar, who is the Egyptian type tour guide when he goes to Egypt to search for the mummy’s tomb, and then I become the princess,the mummy from the inside. He does a special ceremony in which he revives the mummy to her original form.
DP: What makes The Mystery of Irma Vep worth checking out?
LB: The pure fun and mania of it all. Watching two men in their 50s run around like chickens without their heads trying to play all these different parts, I think that’s worth the price of two tickets. It’s also a nod to all those old horror movies. The main movie it’s based on is Rebecca, which was a Hitchcock film about Laurence Olivier taking his new bride home, and we don’t know whether it’s haunted by his ex-wife or not. Like, what’s going on? That kind of premise. The show also throws in a little bit of The Werewolf, The Mummy’s Curse, vampires, so it’s a nod to those old 1940s/1950s horror movies.
DP: Have you always been a fan of Penny Dreadfuls and horror movies yourself?
LB: Yes! When I was a kid, I used to love Creature Feature and Thriller. My brother would stay up all night watching those things. As a matter of fact, I loved the Wolfman. You know how they used to sell those old model airplanes and stuff like that? I would have model horror film stars that you painted and put together. I had the Wolfman, the Mummy, and Dracula.
DP: What do you personally hope to take away from this experience? Even though you have done this show before, is there something new you are hoping to gain?
LB: Art’s not perfect, but I think I just want to go in and take a different spin on it. Maybe add something a little different to each character.
DP: Have you always had a passion for acting and performing?
LB: Absolutely. Ever since I was a kid. I kind of put it off though because I was an extremely shy kid and I never thought that I’d be able to do it. When I hit 25, I said to myself, why don’t I take an acting course? Maybe that will bring me out of my shell more. So, I didn’t really start acting until I was 25. I went to my first community theater audition, got the part, and realized I kind of had a knack for it. Ever since then, I’ve just been doing it, much to the chagrin of anybody I’ve been dating [laughs]. When you’re a theater person, people just don’t understand that’s your life.
DP: What are some of your most memorable roles?
LB: I always enjoy everything that I do at Island City because I’m LGBTQ myself, and I like that they are focused on LGBTQ issues and produce LGBTQ plays. I think my favorite thing that I did for them was a play called Here, and I played a father that had a stroke. That was the most challenging, and then of course, Shorts Gone Wild. Others, I’d say Frank-N-Furter was one of my favorites, playing Jerry in The Full Monty at the ShowPalace up in Hudson was a lot of fun, and King Arthur in Camelot. I also recently did Little Shop. I love the darker, more obscure stuff.
DP: Are there any LGBTQ related or themed productions you would like to do sometime?
LB: I’ve always wanted to do Falsettos. I was in Bent and Torch Song Trilogy, and those were some of my favorite experiences. These were for a little theater company in St. Petersburg called Gypsy Productions. They did a lot of shows like that, so when I came down here, I was looking for something similar and found Andy and Island City Stage.
DP: Before we wrap up, are there any other upcoming projects or anything else you’d like to mention or plug?
LB: I’m starting my own theater company called Art Buzz. My friend John Hernandez and I are self producing right now, so we’re just starting on a shoestring budget. We’re going to include LGBTQ material, but I kind of want to open it up a little bit. There are already two theater companies that are producing solely LGBTQ, so I don’t really want to steal anyone’s audience. I just kind of want to do my own thing and mix it up. I do want to pay my actors, but I think I want to start off making it more of a community process. I don’t want to import actors from New York. I want to give actors that live here in Florida a chance to show their stuff. New playwrights, things of that nature. It’s going to be at Empire Stage Theater, so we will be functioning out of that space for now. Our first production will be Bent, and that will go up September 1, 2022.
Stay up-to-date and connect with Buzzeo by following him on Facebook @LarryBuzzeo. For more information and to purchase tickets for The Mystery of Irma Vep, visit IslandCityStage.org.
