Sending up the Boyz with 'Matt and Ben'
The Galz @ CPT Nail It... How do you like them apples?

Want a recipe for hellacious fun? Take your classic buddy comedy: control freak versus loosey-goosey slob. Now ratchet it up by making the duo Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, just out of college before they get famous. Then triple the stakes by having them played by terrifically funny women. That's the delicious premise of the off-Broadway comedy hit Matt and Ben, opening at CPT this weekend in a must-see production. I talked to the dynamic duo responsible for the hilarity about what to expect.

"I'm embracing my inner maleness," laughs Elizabeth R. Wood, who promises that her portrayal of Ben Affleck is more "essence of dumb lug" than precise imitation. Director Dan Kilbane chose the play for Wood, a CPT regular who is one of the area's comic treasures. Remember her whiny, fat-suited Little Nell in Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, her cortically-challenged, kewpie-doll Columbia in Rocky Horror, her shy drag king in Pulp? Funny and endearing, Wood always manages to make even the most extreme characters sympathetic.

Wood is paired with cool, blonde newcomer Nicole Perrone (Matt), a NYC-based Equity actor who recently arrived on the scene when her husband got a job at the Cleveland Clinic. Perrone is currently in the MFA program at Kent State --her last performance was in Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

"Dan is, like, the King of Pop Culture," says Wood, "so there are movie references throughout the show." Even the fight scene has echoes of action movies, from the Bourne flicks to Daredevil. Kilbane is also a stickler for period pieces - (note: can 1994 be "history" already?) -- so the trash-heap apartment set is dressed with vintage comic books and porn.

"We watched lots of classic comic duets," says Perrone, "from Lucy and Ethel to Laurel and Hardy." The two are clearly having a blast working on the show, although Wood frets about the effect on her waistline. "Do you know what I have to eat every night?? Two pieces of pizza, popcorn, a cupcake, chips, a Little Debby cake, and an entire bottle of apple juice in one glug." Urp.

Although it is full of goofing, there's an authentic heart to the play. It nails that post-college 20-something angst when the serious, ambitious friend starts to think that his cut-up pal may be holding him back.

"Expect pure zany, silly fun that is a great story of friendship," says Perrone. Wood's version: "You put up with a lot of s**t from your friends because you love them."

CPT opens Matt & Ben Thu 5/29. http://www.cptonline.org.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Linda Eisenstein lindaATcoolcleveland.com

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