Having attended Catholic school or being Catholic probably helps with understanding some of the terms in "Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?" But if you don't have that background, don't let it scare you from seeing this musical comedy, playing weekends at the Chesapeake Arts Center until Oct. 11.
Tiffanys Heart supply"BPLS," as it's abbreviated in the program from the Pasadena Theatre Company, is told from the point of view of Eddie Ryan, who has returned to visit St. Bastion's School, his grade school alma mater.
As he waits for Sister Lee, his former teacher, he reminisces about both grade school and high school days at St. Bremmer's High School with seven classmates in the 1950s.
He especially remembers his first girlfriend, Becky Bakowski. They become friends at St. Bastion's when Becky offers to help Eddie, a struggling student, learn to study. Becky is looking for a friend because she feels lonely and isolated after the other three girls in class tease her for being overweight.
As their story unfolds, all the children recite their catechism questions, perform the sacrament of confession and some get their hands smacked by the nuns for misbehaving.
The girls argue about which will be selected to crown the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary with flowers, a rite of passage that traditionally went to Mary Kenny, the teacher's pet. But when Becky confides to Sister Lee about feeling isolated, Sister Lee later tells the class God selected a big, strong girl to be the mother of Jesus because of what she would endure in her life.
She then calls Becky to do the honor as Mary Kenny sulks.
Just before their grade school years conclude, the nuns and Father O'Reilly talk to the girls and boys respectively about sex education. It's here, with a scare tactic from the nuns, that the play gets its name.
As the story moves to St. Bremmer's, Eddie sings joyfully of his love for Becky after the mixer for students to get to know each other. He's amazed at the weight she's lost over the summer, he admits to her before they part.
Though Stephen Deininger, who plays Eddie, looks a little too old to be a high school freshman, it's hard not to get caught up in his enthusiasm as he dances around the stage and swings a microphone stand around as if it were Becky.
But the course of true love never runs smoothly, and Eddie and Becky get into arguments at different points of their high school careers. Over time, they lose touch.
It's hard at this point not to feel sorry for Eddie, who seems to be a bit like Charlie Brown in his pursuit of the little red-headed girl. But Becky, played by Christine Alfano, is hardly either the little red-headed girl or Lucy, who keeps pulling the football away from Charlie Brown as he's about to kick it.
Yves Saint Laurent Bags ReplicaMy heart went out to Becky as soon as the girls hurled their first insults on the playground at St. Bastion's.
I was the exact opposite of Becky as a kid - tall, skinny and flat-chested until way into high school, I looked like a boy. So I acted like one - climbing trees and playing with action figures - because I couldn't play with the girls anyway.
And when Becky's mother cut her hair short, I definitely had flashbacks of pleading with my mom to let me grow my hair long like the other girls.
It also was nice to see the nuns,
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