Milo says she based her performance on Gracie Allen’s shtick from The Burns and Allen Show. “There’s so many one-liners with Muriel, like when she’s saying, ‘I’m not going to have any, I’m not going to have any…a vodka stinger.’ Gracie was sort of a dingbat, but a really cute dingbat with great comedic timing. It kind of came into me, and I decided the only way to play a boozehound who’s really unhappy in her marriage and not come off as unlikable is to make her quirky.”
When Milo isn’t boozing it up on stage in Northport, she can be found spending time with her mother and grandmother at their homes in Oceanside and Island Park. Many of her favorite places to visit in Island Park have closed since she left home, but she always finds a way to visit the few old haunts that are still around.
“I worked at The Kute Place, an ice cream/yogurt shop, for eight years, and I loved it! It closed, and it was across from The Lazy Cow which is no longer The Lazy Cow,” she sighs. “But when I visit my mom I always sneak out to Long Beach and get a Gino’s slice. I’m obsessed with Gino’s pizza, and nobody has spumoni like Gino’s has spumoni, it’s so good! I also can’t choose between spumoni and ice cream, so I have to have both, and then I go to Marvel’s in Lido Beach and get a cone because they have the best ice cream on earth. Sweets are my life. Muriel has alcohol, I have sugar!” she says, laughing.
Tickets for Plaza Suite may be purchased by calling (631) 261-2900, or online at www.EngemanTheater.com.