by E. H. Reiter, Broadway World San Diego
…THEY PROMISED HER THE MOON, now playing at The Old Globe through May 12th is a lovely portrayal of a young woman who chose to defy the expectations of her based on her sex and shoot for the moon….
The first act starts with Jerrie coming in for testing in the floating isolation tank, allowing Jerrie to reminisce about her time with her parents, learning how to fly, and working with the handsome Jack Ford (Peter Rini) who took a chance and hired her for his airplane ferrying business during the war.
This is an excellent cast, with many switching between multiple characters as the scenes blend seamlessly into each other. Directed by Giovanna Sardelli the cast is a tight ensemble that also allows each member moments to shine.
Hallett is excellent as the fiercely determined Jerrie, who is more at home in the sky than she is on terra firma. She seamlessly changes ages and demeanors as the scenes transition from adulthood, to childhood, and back again. The audience feels her sincerity, her drive, and her frustration.
Fisher is a winning combination of brash, ballsy, and beautiful as Jackie Cochran. Funny and charming at one moment, and shrewd and calculating at the next, Fisher is the perfect persona of a woman who used her status as an outstanding woman in aviation to open doors for female pilots not to advance women, but to make sure she was the first one through the door.
Joffrey is very funny as Jerrie’s exasperated and thoroughly domesticated mother, Pemberton is warm and supportive as her father, and Boston makes a poignant emotional impact in the second act. Rini is charming as Ford, and annoyingly perfect and unsupportive as John Glenn. During Congressional hearings.
Playwright Laura Ollstein peppers the dialogue with actual quotes from reports and congressional hearings, painting a thorough picture of just what odds Jerrie and the other women of the Mercury 13 project were facing in their endeavors….
“…imaginative, fun, adventurous…”
