Brynn Lee

CCP: Living in an idealized past not easy

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

“Home, I’m Darling,” by British playwright and screenwriter Laura Wade, is not often seen outside the UK, where it’s set. However, the central character is captured by the nostalgia of the 1950s as envisioned by popular American television and movies, despite her having been born in England in 1980. 

Carmel Community Players presents a unique production of this Olivier Award-winning comedy at The Cat, directed by Nicole Ansler.

Judy (Lori Ann Gerdisch) and Johnny (Kevin Smith) appear to have the perfect happy marriage – if this were a black-and-white sitcom. Puttering around the kitchen in a pretty dress with pearls and a frilly apron, Judy seems happy to cook and clean at a home in which nearly all appliances and furniture date to the 1950s while Johnny, smartly dressed including a hat, goes to work as a real estate agent. The one concession to 21st century living is a laptop for ordering more vintage stuff online. She only listens to old records and watches old films on a disc player wired into a modified old telly, and has embraced the lifestyle to the extent that she rarely swears and finds herself surprised that Johnny’s boss Alex (Brynn Lee) is a woman.

Judy’s best friend Fran (Amalia Howard) is impressed at how clean the home is and notes her husband Marcus (Mike Sosnowski) wouldn’t mind her living a similar life – though she likes her job. On the other hand, Judy’s mother Sylvia (Barbara Babbitt), a diehard feminist, is quick to point out how uncomfortable she is with the whole situation.

This production includes a clever addition: To help intensify the surreal atmosphere – and give the cast more time for costume changes –there are various 50s-60s style TV commercials between scenes, presented with “Mad Men” charm by Tanya Haas and Mark Livingston, with Jason Creighton voicing the announcer. Products include yellow margarine, smooth-smoking cigarettes, and whitening toothpaste for those pesky yellow stains. Written by Amsler after receiving permission from Wade, these bits are among the highlights of the show. Haas even gets to perform an ad jingle.

This retro paradise quickly shows its flaws as money gets tight with Johnny not likely to get the promotion they were counting on. While Fran tries recipes and household hints from one of Judy’s old books, Marcus is caught in a situation that, in these days, gets more serious attention.

“Nostalgia used to be considered a mental disease” is said, and there seem to be deeper issues at play. This is especially true of Judy, whom Gerdisch plays with iron stubbornness tinged with fear. As we learn about her unusual childhood, her attachment to an idealized world becomes clear, edging on cautionary tale.

Meanwhile Johnny is finding himself disconnected from life, stuck more in an acted role than a voluntary lifestyle. Smith, who can’t help looking a bit like Don Draper, shows his manly strength in a rather un-50s manner, with a hope that he can still reach his time-warped wife.  

Howard charms with her supportive personality, though that trait gets sorely tested. While others play at living in the past, Sosnowski’s character Marcus is more of a throwback. Babbitt plays Sylvia as a loving and concerned mother who could grab a sign to join a march. Lee’s Alex is our anchor to the current era – modern suit, cell phone handy – not judging while focused on practical matters.

The choice was made by Amsler, to the relief of the cast, to not attempt British accents. With numerous idioms and references to English cities, there was no attempt to adapt the script to the U.S. (this story is good for practically any English-speaking culture, and has been staged in Australia). I feel this approach works, as it makes the play more relatable, and attempting the accents (especially considering regional dialects) could end up being distracting or even come off farcical, diluting the serious subtext of this already oddball comedy. Besides, the culture Judy is emulating is mostly American anyway.

Assistant directors are Laura Gellin, who is also intimacy coordinator, and Lauren Lotzow, who is also stage manager. The all-volunteer company did an excellent job of rounding up the various era-appropriate props and set pieces (helpers include Tom Smith, Susanne Bush, Charlie Hanover, and Dave Muse). Costume design is by Judy McGroarty.

A fun show with thought-provoking dark edges, “Home, I’m Darling,” has performances 7:30 p.m. Thursday (at a discount price) and Friday, 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at The Cat, 254 Veterans Way in downtown Carmel. For tickets, see carmelplayers.org or thecat.biz.

Westfield stage shares wonderful ‘Secret’

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

With “The Secret Garden: The Musical,” Main Street Productions brings to life the popular English children’s story (first published in the U.S.) by Frances Hodgson Burnett, adapted with book and lyrics by Marsha Norman, and music by Lucy Simon, a Tony-winning Broadway hit in 1991.

The current Westfield production, directed by Andrea Odle, reflects life in the early years of the 20th century when death seemed far more common. In fact, most of the cast are ghosts.

Mary Lennox (Polly Hamm), a spoiled 10-ish year-old girl living in India (then under British rule) finds herself the bizarre beneficiary of her military elite parents’ neglect. A cholera outbreak kills all the adults including Mary’s father Albert (Josh Vander Missen), mother Rose (Heather Hansen), and servant Ayah (Elizabeth Belle), but sparing her. Discovered by British authorities, Mary is sent to England and an uncle she has never met. Guardians unseen but sometimes heard and felt, the spirits follow.

The manor at Misselthwaite on the misty Yorkshire Moors is already understood to be haunted, most recently by the ghost of Mary’s mother’s sister Lily (Kata Ewigleben), who passed 10 years before, as well by as her surviving husband, reclusive hunchback Arichibald Craven (Mike Lipphardt). He is attended by servants, headed by Mrs. Medlock (Mary Garner), and his physician brother Neville Craven (Braden Hunt).

Of course, the arrival of an energetic and naturally curious girl will bring about some changes. Mary develops a friendship with Martha the chambermaid (Tessa Gibbons) and her outdoorsy brother Dickon (Nate Moore), as well gardener Ben Weatherstaff (Ron Freeman), and eventually Mary’s cousin Colin (Harper Moore), who, though “sickly,” is at least as impetuous as her.

Other members of the ghostly chorus are played by Brynn Lee, Amanda McCabe, Bryan Gallet, Jackson Stollings, Connor Phelan, Ryley Trottier, Darrin Gowan and Ellen Vander Missen.

The titular Garden is “secret” in that as it is a reminder of Lily (who had tended it), Archibald has ordered it locked and abandoned, with the key hidden and the door obscured by ivy. These obstacles prove no match for our spirited, and spirit-aided, heroine.

The stage musical leans into the mystical and magical aspects of Burnett’s story. While it feels supernatural to the characters, the results are more the result of persistence and working towards healing, both mentally and physically. Inspiring and holding our interest as a spell of sorts is woven, the “magic” is something attainable to us all. (And nothing says you can’t talk to a robin when you need to.)

Hamm is naturally charming as Mary. Even when obstinate with the upheaval of her life at the beginning, she is still a likable girl. This makes it all the more wild when she goes over-the-top in her loud refusal to be sent away to school – a humorous highlight of the show. Moore as Colin effectively mixes bratty outbursts with frustration at his bedridden life, conditions that improve with Mary’s sunny disposition, as well as actual sunshine.

As Ayah (the only name Mary knows for her is a title referring to a south-Asian nanny or nursemaid), Belle represents Indian culture in her character without becoming a discomfiting stereotype. Her movements and Hindi songs are likely comforting memories for Mary, while aiding the otherworldly atmosphere of these adventures.

The show’s “villain” role falls to Dr. Neville, though he is more driven by misguided good intentions than greed. Hunt brings out all the conflicted feelings as he feels pressured by the demands of family and society – as well as a bit of what’s-in-this-for-me resentment.

The most compelling aspect of this production is its songs, delivered with soaring operatic grace, especially by Ewigleben’s Lily and Lipphardt’s Archibald. Gibbons belts it out excellently as well. Moore presents Dickon as a sort of shaman, singing to equal the birds he speaks with. The sheer beauty of the singing overall helps establish a feeling more romantic than spooky – even with all the ghosts – making “The Secret Garden” as inspiring as it is entertaining.

This production features a beautiful stage design by Jay Ganz, including clever representation of the garden maze. Excellent costume design is by Odle, Garner and McCabe, nicely evoking the era. Dewayne Lewis is assistant director, as well as stage manager with assistant Amy Buell.

Performances are June 4-7 at the Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St. (there is still road construction in the area, but the downtown is accessible). For tickets and info, go to westfieldplayhouse.org.  

Hyperion hosts good zombie play

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

Local performer Brad Staggs said he took it as a challenge when several years ago his wife said, “There’s no such thing as a good play about zombies.” While the silver screen has stories of these undead of varying quality, and television the acclaimed “Walking Dead” (based on a brilliant comic book), this actually was in the realm of possibility.

In “I Love My Zombie,” which Staggs wrote, directed, and took a role in on June 6-9 at Theater at the Fort in Lawrence, he manages not only an entertaining zombie-centered comic drama, but also a tribute to the golden age of television and thinly-disguised tribute to the bold character of the legendary Lucille Ball.

In the Hyperion Players production, Becky Schlomann plays this parallel-America’s TV star June Burns, who, like Ball in our world, runs the production company that makes the number-one 1950s sitcom, “I Love My Wife,” starring her and her husband, Jimmy Teague (Ron May), who happens to be a zombie.

In the last days of World War II, the Nazis released an experimental gas as they retreated, which the Allied soldiers and civilian aid workers did not feel the effects of for a few years. In varying states of decay, yet fully active, the turned zombies, recognizable by sickly colored skin, were designated Stage One, like Jimmy, physically and mentally intact; Stage Two, like comic Sy Greenblaum (Jerry Robbins), losing body parts that can be simply reattached to regain function; Stage Three, largely mute and slow of mind but physically strong; and Stage Four, the kind you really don’t want to meet.

Carl Cooper (Robert Fimreite), another Stage One, is president of the Zombie Actors Union, which looks out for performers like Jimmy, as well as the Stage Three stagehands (Lauren Lotzow and Natalie George). June and Jimmy’s human costar Madeline Blonstein (Veronique Duprey) has grown weary of working with the undead; she commiserates with production assistant Michael Eastman (Brynn Lee), who is influenced by the letters published in the paper attributed to the mysterious “Mr. Kaplan,” who calls all zombies a dangerous menace that should be removed from regular human society.

Meanwhile, Gary (David Muller), the Director of “I Love My Wife,” apparently lives in his production booth and we only hear his voice.

This story is narrated to us by LAPD Detective Sam Cutty (Staggs), who tells it during a 1972 police seminar, with the help of his groovy young niece Tammy (Sydney Adams). Cutty was there in 1952 when he was called in to investigate a murder involving the aforementioned characters, leading to a bigger and more sinister plot.

I won’t spoil this, because hopefully this play will return at a later date. Staggs crafted an interesting mystery with lots of fun comic elements, featuring creatures who are not necessarily the bad guys, and not nearly as “mindless” as the attitudes of certain humans. The moral codes of the 1950s add to the atmosphere of discrimination as America deals with another easily misunderstood minority. June takes a stand as a voice for decency, rallying our sympathies as well as her castmates.

Sydney Jackson was assistant director. Beth Fike designed the sets. Ash Dykstra did the un-lifelike makeup.

From our perspective, we say “mission accomplished” for Staggs – a good zombie play with good zombies. This also shows Hyperion further establishing itself as another quality local theatre company. It starts its next season in September with “An Inspector Calls” by J.B. Priestley, directed by Nicole Amsler. See HyperionPlayers.com for details.