"Steel Magnolias" - by Robert Harling - The Majestic Theater (West Springfield, MA.) - REVIEW
(Cover Photo: The CAST of Robert Harling's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" now playing at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield, MA. through November 30, 2025. Photo Credit Sarah Stephens)
By Kevin T. Baldwin
METRMAG Reviewer
# 774-242-6724
“Ouiser, you're almost chipper today. Did you run over a small child or something?"
- ("Clairee") / Robert Harling
The Majestic Theater
Presents Robert Harling's
"STEEL MAGNOLIAS"
Written by Robert Harling
Directed by Sue Dziura
Founding Producing Director Danny Eaton
Cast Includes: Elaine Hom as “Truvy,” Kait Rankins* as “Annelle,” Maconnia Chesser* as “Clairee,” Raya Malcolm as “Shelby,” Cate Damon* as “M’Lynn,” Angela Dias as “Ouiser.”
Understudies: Myka Plunkett (Truvy/M’Lynn); Rachel Lamarre (Annelle/Shelby); Laurie Nickerson (Clairee/Ouiser).
Additional Creative Team:
Production Manager - Marcus Kearns; Stage Manager - Alexandra O’Halloran*; Production Assistant - Michael Garcia; Set Designer - Juliana Von Haubrich; Lighting Designer - Daniel David Rist; Costume Designer - Dawn McKay; Sound Designer - Ryan Hickey; Technical Director - Alan Schneider; Assistant Technical Director - Chase Trumbull; Wardrobe Mistress - Christine Thompson; Props Supervisor - Dana Weintraub; COVID Compliance Officer - Carol Rucinski.
*Member Of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), The Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in The United States
Performances:
October 23, 2025 through November 30, 2025
(Contact Box Office for Exact Times)
MAJESTIC THEATER, 131 Elm Street, West Springfield, MA. 01089
TICKETS:
For tickets and more information, contact the MAJESTIC THEATER box office by phone at # 413-747-7797 or visit www.majestictheater.com
BUY TICKETS
COVID 19 PROTOCOLS
Contact Venue for Most Updated COVID-19 Safety Protocols and Information.
(Warning: The following review contains spoilers)
The Majestic Theater stage in West Springfield is the place to be for a vibrant take on "STEEL MAGNOLIAS."
There’s a very good reason why this particular two-act play keeps getting staged by theatre companies across America.
If done properly and staged accordingly, any ensemble production of "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" should reveal the unique "sisterhood" or bond between the actresses involved, conveying empathy, kindness and, above all, a loving connection between the play’s characters.
This is where the "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" staging by Majestic Theater absolutely succeeds.
Based on Robert Harling’s own experience with his sister's death, Harling wrote "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" to focus on the bond among this group of women of Louisiana.
Not only an iconic 1989 film and a more recent 2012 television event, but the play adaptation, which premiered in 1987, ran for over 1,100 performances before closing in 1990.
Since then, it has been performed all over the country and around the world.
While the story is firmly set in Chinquapin Parish, Louisiana during the 1980s, "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" has a baroque and timeless quality.
The two-act "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" opens at the in-home beauty parlor in Chinquapin, run by owner-hairstylist Truvy (Elaine Hom).
Hom embraces the "rooted" (pun intended), jovial and equally generous qualities of Truvy, who spends most of her time attending to the "roots" of her customers' varied hair issues (among other issues) at the salon, if only to not otherwise engage with her unseen idle husband.
The Majestic Theater set design for "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" is simply gorgeous with great attention to details such as salon chairs, hair styling equipment and accessories and a salon hair dryer.
However, the design of Truvy’s salon does give the impression that the entire show is taking place on the back porch of Truvy’s home.
As directed by Sue Dziura, the play runs seamlessly from start to finish and thanks to the cohesive performances by the actresses involved in this splendid Majestic Theater staging, the story never loses focus on its characters and their struggles, hopes or aspirations.
While "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" may appear to be a straightforward or simple play to stage, the content and context of the dialogue combined with the actions involved in the "day to day" operation of this salon soon disproves that assumption.
In "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" there’s a LOT going on, both technically and artistically but with the Majestic production, all the set changes and redresses are accomplished quickly and with minimal downtime.
Under Dziura’s disciplined approach, the execution of Harling’s script maintains a delicate balance of humor and humanity embedded in the relationship of the story’s characters.
Costumes and wigs are appropriate for the time and place and the overall pacing of the show is outstanding.
(Rehearsal Photo: Maconnia Chesser as “Clairee” with Angela Dias as “Ouiser” in a scene from Robert Harling's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" now playing at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield, MA. through November 30, 2025. Photo Credit: Kait Rankins)
There is something instantly recognizable in Truvy's clienteles - i.e the ladies who regularly gather at Truvy’s salon.
These women are not just customers - they are "kinfolk."
This "family" takes care of one another through all their respective highs and lows, and through all their collective joys and sorrows.
And, as pointed out several times in the show, if you DIDN'T let any of them know you had a problem of some kind, they WILL take offense.
Over the course of the play's journey - which spans 32 months broken down into four scenes in two acts - there are multiple sub-plots in Majestic Theater's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" involving the unseen men in the lives of these women.
Not just husbands (or even late husbands), but also boyfriends, fiancés, brothers and even sons.
Thankfully, those chaps are never seen as they would simply prove to distract from the real story here which is a story of these women, and it is a story well-executed by a solid ensemble of actresses.
As the title suggests, the female characters in the Majestic production may seem “delicate as magnolias” but they are, in fact, “tough as steel.”
As "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" begins, Truvy has just hired Annelle (Kait Rankins) who is new in town, having just arrived with little to her name.
Only just-recently married to a shady guy, Annelle's fugitive husband has taken off with her car, money, and everything she owns, leaving Annelle in an emotionally shaken state.
Rankins has terrific comedic reflexes, especially in some of her unspoken reactions to some of the antics taking place in the salon.
Truvy becomes like an adoptive mother to Annelle, not only hiring her but giving her a place to stay.
As the play moves along, Annelle becomes a born-again Christian and occasionally annoys the ladies of the salon.
High praise extended to both Hom and Rankins who, respectively as Truvy and Annelle, must also perform the actual hair styling required in the show (difficult while simultaneously maintaining the flow of the dialogue and actions required throughout).
(Photo: The CAST of Robert Harling's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" now playing at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield, MA. through November 30, 2025. Photo Credit: Sarah Stephens)
Two of Truvy's regular clients are the young and determined diabetic Shelby (Raya Malcolm) and her concerned mother, M'Lynn (Cate Damon).
M'Lynn works as a counselor at the local mental health guidance center but her own mental toughness is about to become sorely tested.
Malcolm takes a unique approach to the role of the strong-willed Shelby, who has come to Truvy the day of her wedding to get her hair done with very specific instructions on her desired appearance.
Malcolm brings out a brilliantly animated yet defiantly optimistic Shelby in her portrayal of the character - and her distinctive interpretation on her readings of the character’s lines is quite inspired.
Contrasting nicely with Malcolms’ Shelby is Damon as overprotective mom M'Lynn, who is concerned for her daughter - VERY concerned - not just for the wedding but for all of Shelby's ongoing "risky" life choices.
Shelby’s decision to risk her life to marry and bring forth another life into this world is part of what she feels she needs to do.
Shelby needs to know that, in her own heart - and on her own terms - that her time while here on this earth has been for something other than subsistence.
M'Lynn chastises Shelby because she feels Shelby risks her health while Shelby feels the risk is what gives her life meaning.
And yet, Shelby does this, even with the understanding of how it increases the risk of the onset of severe, possibly fatal, medical trauma in the process.
As the Majestic Theater play continues (spoiler alert), Shelby's health faces unrelenting challenges - but Shelby's spirit, disposition and outlook because of these challenges never falter.
The chemistry between Damon and Malcolm shows an apparent familial friction, demonstrating how parents and children occasionally have a combative relationship while maintaining a loving mother-daughter dynamic and discourse.
Some of that friction or combative dynamic between parent and child occasionally extends well into that child's adulthood...if both are lucky.
(Rehearsal Photo: The CAST of Robert Harling's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" now playing at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield, MA. through November 30, 2025. Photo Credit: Kait Rankins)
Among Truvy's other clients is the former “First Lady of Chinquapin,” Clairee (Maconnia Chesser), who comes across as a permanent fixture at Truvy’s as she almost always seems to be there and is in no apparent hurry to leave.
Clairee is the widow of the mayor and, as the story unfolds, becomes owner of a local sports team and radio station.
Chesser is completely cheery and captivating as Clairee, a perfect foil for the overbearing Ouiser (Angela Dias), a curmudgeonly customer who has been unhappily married (twice) and has children who never call.
Ouiser's only rumored companion is her unseen dog.
As the caustic spitfire Ouiser, Dias balances the character well to ensure that, as combative and adversarial as she may appear, Ousier never comes across as a toxic personality.
Ouiser also reveals a softer side, as well, as it becomes evident that she considers the other women at the salon to be her closest friends...(if, perhaps, her only friends).
Chesser and Dias provide the show's biggest laughs and appear to have a great time together even though the relationship between Ouiser and Clairee is at times adversarial.
(Photo: Maconnia Chesser as “Clairee,” Angela Dias as “Ouiser,” Cate Damon as “M’Lynn,” Elaine Hom as “Truvy” and Raya Malcolm as “Shelby” in a scene from Robert Harling's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" now playing at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield, MA. through November 30, 2025. Photo Credit: Sarah Stephens)
Throughout "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" there are moments of great laughter and joy balanced with moments of tears and sadness.
"STEEL MAGNOLIAS" continues at the Majestic Theater in West Springfield until November 30th, 2025 so make sure to see it, enjoy it, rinse and repeat.
Coming up at the Majestic Theater will be a hilarious take on the Sherlock Holmes mystery "THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES" written by Steven Canny and John Nicholson, beginning January 8th, 2026.
For tickets and more information, contact the MAJESTIC THEATER box office by phone at # 413-747-7797 or visit www.majestictheater.com
BUY TICKETS
Approximately two hours, 20 minutes with one intermission.
Kevin T. Baldwin is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA)
@MetrmagReviews
@Theatre_Critics
ABOUT THE SHOW
In Robert Harling's "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" - Truvy Jones runs a successful beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies in the neighborhood have a standing Saturday appointment.
Along with her anxious and eager assistant, Annelle, Truvy styles the hair of many of the women about town: wealthy widow and former first lady of Chinquapin, Clairee Belcher, local curmudgeon Ouiser Boudreaux ("I'm not crazy, I've just been in a bad mood for forty years”), intelligent and compassionate career woman M’Lynn, and her daughter Shelby, the prettiest girl in town.
Shelby’s engagement is the talk of the town, but the joy and excitement of her wedding quickly turn to concern as she faces a risky pregnancy and a myriad of health complications.
As the women of "STEEL MAGNOLIAS" make their way over life’s many hurdles together, they find comfort (and a fair amount of verbal ribbing) in one another!
ABOUT THE MAJESTIC THEATER
Locally-produced professional live theater since 1997. Before it was a live theater, local residents may remember THE MAJESTIC THEATER as a movie house. It has since been renovated and reimagined to bring live performances to the West Springfield area, giving local performance and technical artists the opportunity to thrive. Every season at THE MAJESTIC consists of five productions (including at least one musical) featuring local actors. In addition to the subscription season, the summer includes children's theater, concerts, plays, open mic nights, and improvisational comedy shows. Recently named the best place to see live theater in the Pioneer Valley in the Valley Advocate Readers' Poll, THE MAJESTIC THEATER continues to offer great theater thanks to the support and generosity of its 4200+ subscribers.
131 Elm Street
West Springfield, MA. 01089
# 413-747-7797
