Published August 02. 2026 02:35AM<\/p>\n
Rory LaRue is living in a run-down trailer park where he is unknown, even though he had an incredible movie career.<\/p>\n
How could it have happened?<\/p>\n
Three people wanting him to star in their film project are trying to find out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Perfect Fit,\u201d an original work by screenwriter-director Ara Barlieb, was inspired by a real-life incident. Two Lehigh Valley writers and filmmakers met with Jack Palance for a possible film project. Palance, a son of Ukrainian immigrants, lived in the Hazleton area in his later years, close to his birthplace.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Perfect Fit,\u201d in its world premiere, continues through Aug. 9, Between The Lines Studio, Theater, Allentown.<\/p>\n
The opening night July 31 performance was seen for this review.<\/p>\n
The two-hour play begins with Zach McKenzie (Colin Core) rewriting his screenplay on a manual typewriter. Core is a study in frustration as he talks to himself about the revisions, and screams into the phone whenever entertainment reporter Walter Sheehan (Danny Black) calls.<\/p>\n
This first scene is reminiscent of 1930s\u2019 and \u201840s\u2019 films featuring sarcastic and frantic newspaper reporters and writers who were multitasking years before the term became popular.<\/p>\n
The calmer and less neurotic Walter eventually arranges for Zach to meet LaRue (David Oswald), along with his business-minded editor Carmela Pulcini (Trish Cipoletti).<\/p>\n
Rory LaRue would not fit anyone\u2019s idea of what Jack Palance might have been like in real life. But many of the stories he tells actually happened to Palance, like accidentally breaking Marlon Brando\u2019s nose and co-starring with Brigitte Bardot.<\/p>\n
In the second scene, LaRue talks to his cleaning lady Phyllis (Pamela McLean Wallace), and reveals that he is a trickster with changing personalities, like being addled, being a roue, and actually being serious. He even claims that sometimes he doesn\u2019t know who he really is.<\/p>\n
In the second act, the idealistic McKenzie confronts LaRue. Core twitches and pouts as Oswald as LaRue keeps playfully manipulating everyone. Despite all the maneuverings and wisecracks, there is a resolution and the two have to face their shortcomings.<\/p>\n
This character-based combination of comedy and drama uses a relatively minimal set, mostly taking place in LaRue\u2019s trailer.<\/p>\n
This is Core\u2019s first stint with the Crowded Kitchen Players and Black is relatively new. But in the fast-moving play, all five cast members are, ahem, a perfect fit.<\/p>\n
It would make an entertaining film. It\u2019s too bad Jack Palance is no longer available for a cameo.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Perfect Fit,\u201d 7:30 p.m. July 31, Aug. 1, 7, 8; 2 p.m. Aug. 2, 9, Crowded Kitchen Players, Between The Lines Studio Theatre, 725 N. 15th St., Allentown. 610-704-6974, https:\/\/ckplayers.com\/<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOColin Core (Zach McKenzie), \u201cThe Perfect Fit,\u201d Crowded Kitchen Players, Between The Lines Studio Theatre, Allentown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published August 02. 2026 02:35AM Rory LaRue is living in a run-down trailer park where he is unknown,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257568,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-257567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}