Carpe Your Seats for The Last Romance This Diem!

By K. Lindsay Eaves

Amana - They say you always remember your first love, but what about your last? Unfamiliar with Joe DiPietro’s script or his Tony-winning reputation, I was admittedly somewhat trepidatious when I took my seat amid a slightly older demographic to view what was billed as a love-story at the end of life. And then Troy Bruchwalski (“Young Man”) strutted on-stage and I sat up straight with renewed interest. With a dapper suit and a Ryan Gosling swagger, Bruchwalski’s operatic swell set the tone for the high notes The Last Romance would hit. As his younger self, this might have been a hard act for some to follow, but not for David Q. Combs (“Ralph”). His character exuded a kind of youthful brashness that at times had you wondering if he’d popped a little too much Viagra. But it was all in good fun. Combs’ Ralph is an audacious extrovert kept on a short leash by his over-bearing, if well-meaning, sister, Rose (played by Rachael Lindhart). As first-generation Italian immigrants living in Hoboken, NJ, they form a tight family unit brought together by mutual losses in love. And they’ve forged a good life together from those disappointments. Well, perhaps not good, but comfortable in its predictability and blandness. But all this is changed one day by a chance meeting in a dog park.

The Last Romance Opens April 25

Licia Watson and Tom Milligan
Photo by Shelley Klimes

Amana - "Falling in love again was not something Ralph was expecting. Fate, however, had other ideas for this lively widower and a different path home one evening leads him to Carol and changes his life.

Don’t miss The Last Romance, a funny account of second chances and the surprises life can bring, opening on The Old Creamery Theatre’s Main Stage April 25. The Last Romance was written by Joe DiPietro and is directed by Krista Neumann of Iowa City. The cast consists of Troy Bruchwalski of Cleveland, OH, Tom Milligan of West Amana, Rachael Lindhart of Iowa City and Licia Watson of Kansas City, MO.