“OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY” TAKES LAUGHTER HOSTAGE

Garfield is a cartoon cat that craves lasagna and coffee and hates Mondays and raisins.  He can be lazy and fat and quite cynical.  Causing mischief is his great delight and sarcasm is his normal pattern of speech.  Now contrast Garfield with Garfinkle, another fat cat who has a compulsion for donuts (where’s a Dunkin’ Donuts when you need one?), who loves money and the power it provides him and enjoys squeezing corporations until they cry “uncle.”

To see Garfinkle at work, and maybe munch a chocolate sprinkled donut or three, mosey over to the Ivoryton Playhouse to see “Other’s People Money” by Jerry Sterner by Sunday, May 5.  Guard your wallet and your sense of integrity if you want to survive a Garfinkle attack.

Edward Kassar was born to inhabit the larger-than-life persona of Garfinkle, known to his allies and enemies as “Larry the Liquidator.”  He is a businessman without morals or scruples and proud of it.  He would cheat his own grandmother if it made him a profit.

Right now, in the autumn of the late 1990’s, he has set his sights on the New England Wire and Cable Company in Rhode Island, a family owned establishment run for generations, now by President Andrew Jorgenson, a dedicated Gary Allan Poe.  Jorgenson and his trusted manager William Coles (Dennis Fox) and right hand gal Bea (Denise Walker) are ill prepared for a crafty fox that invades their henhouse.

As Garfinkle buys up the company stock, forcing the price higher, it soon becomes clear that he doesn’t care if there’s carnage, if the employees lose their livelihood, if the town suffers harm, as long as his pocketbook is healthy and wealthy with greenery.

Fearing the worst, Jorgenson surrenders to pressure from the ranks and hires Bea’s daughter Kate, an investment banker and attorney, to go head-to-head with the monster at the door.  Maggie McGlone Jennings directs a probing indictment of the corporate world with flair and a talented cast, on a versatile set designed by William Russell Stark.

For tickets ($40, seniors $35, students $20, children $15), call the Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street, Ivoryton at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org.  Performances are Wednesday and Sunday at 2 p.m., Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.

Be prepared for a crash course in hostile takeovers and unsavory business negotiations as Lawrence Garfinkle mounts his big guns in attack, without regard for survivors.