Steel Magnolias
By Robert Harling
The action is set in Truvy’s beauty salon in Chinquapin, Louisiana, where all the ladies who are “anybody” come to have their hair done. Helped by her eager new assistant, Annelle, the outspoken, wise-cracking Truvy dispenses shampoos and free advice to the town’s rich curmudgeon, Ouiser, an eccentric millionaire, Miss Clairee, who has a raging sweet tooth; and the local social leader, M’Lynn, whose daughter Shelby is about to marry a “good ole boy.” Filled with hilarious repartee and acerbic but humorously revealing verbal collisions, the play moves toward tragedy when spunky Shelby (who is a diabetic) risks pregnancy and forfeits her life. The sudden realization of their mortality affects the others, but also draws on the underlying strength and love which give the play, and its characters, the special quality to make them truly touching, funny and amiable company in good times and bad.