ENTER THE WORLD OF "A COMPLICATED WOMAN" AT THE TERRIS THEATRE

There are rarely easy answers to life’s complicated questions. Weighing and balancing options can be challenging and the answers may be a long time in the future in evaluating whether you chose correctly. Events can influence what path you take and have the power to change your life irrevocably. “A Complicated Woman A New Musical” by Ianne Fields Stewart for book, Jonathan Brielle for music and lyrics, with additional lyrics by Sam Salmond, is guaranteed to take you on a life altering journey of self discovery at the Terris Theatre in Chester until Sunday June 2. Set with probing music, it asks what happens when you live a double life, with gender issues that are not easily accepted or resolved by family, friends and, especially, yourself.

Nora Brigid Monahan is exceptional in tackling the balancing the see-saw act that is John Kenley, impresario and show business entrepreneur during the winter in New York and summers in Florida as Jean, a woman who lives a much riskier life with her best friend Nina Mae, a devoted L Morgan Lee. Is it possible to reconcile the two vastly different personas? Can John/Jean be both or will the two worlds crash or collide in the future? How brave do you have to be to be happy?

For Nina Mae, the decision seems clearer. She will accept the love that Oscar, an understanding Christian Brailsford, offers so freely and have the operation that will allow a marriage and family to exist. When John’s boyfriend and lover Carl, an uncompromising Dashiell Gregory, refuses to accept nothing less than a wife and children, John must make a heartbreaking decision. Can he live as John or as Jean can give up his other self? It is like separating conjoined twins who may not survive the operation. The devastating truth that his sister Myrtle, a no nonsense Klea Blackhurst, refuses to accept John’s other self makes any decision he makes much more difficult.

John finds it even more difficult to maintain his relationship with Nina Mae and her daughters, Muhlaysis's Zachary A. Myers and Arewa Basit’s Diamond, as they watch Aunt Jean struggle to choose a path. Danny Rutigliano’s successful role as Lee Shubert does not make the decision any easier. You will soon find yourself agonizing with the poignant battle waging as tunes like “Risk & Reward,” “The Man Who Runs the Show,” “in the Light of Day,” "Why Can’t We Be Both?” and “I Exist!” emotionally affect your heart.

Follow this journey of discovery for a person who is forced to hide in plain sight, struggling to reconcile two lives without losing himself/herself in the process.