Martini Olaletan

‘Time to Dance’ with Summer Stock Stage ‘Prom’

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

By John Lyle Belden

Indianapolis young artist program Summer Stock Stage opens its 2025 season with “The Prom,” a 2018 Broadway musical loosely based on actual events and still-persistent attitudes. This is an Eclipse production (no relation to the Bloomington company) in which young actors gain professional experience alongside experienced and Equity performers.

New York theatre narcissistic has-beens Barry Glickman (Adam B. Shapiro) and Dee Dee Allen (Lanene Charters) discover their latest musical is such a flop, it will immediately close. Commiserating with friend Angie Dickinson (Alexandria Van Paris), a 20-year veteran who can’t escape the chorus, and unemployed former sitcom star Trent Oliver (Logan Mortier) – who can’t stop talking about attending Juilliard – they decide they need to take on an activist cause to enhance their public profiles. Finding an online story about a prom cancelled because a lesbian student wants to take a girl as her date, inspiration strikes.

Meanwhile, at fictional James Madison High School in Edgewater, Indiana, Emma (Mai Caslowitz) finds herself bullied even more than usual as the other students blame her for the prom’s cancellation. Fortunately, Principal Hawkins (Ryan Artzberger) is an ally and working on both a legal remedy and persuading the PTA, led by homophobic president Mrs. Greene (Megan Raymont). That meeting appears to be about to bring about the dance’s reinstatement, when suddenly, our Broadway gang shows up to “help.”

With incurable hams in the land of the tenderloin, we get a lot of laughs and maybe a bit of schadenfreude at watching the New Yorkers fail spectacularly. On the other hand, it’s cruel to Emma, who has enough stress from the fact that her secret girlfriend Alyssa (Jocylon Evans) is Mrs. Greene’s daughter.

Still, there is a lot of heart, hope and energy in this fun musical by Bob Martin, Chad Beguelin and Matthew Sklar, based on a concept by Jack Viertel. This production is directed by SSS Artistic Director Emily Ristine Holloway, expertly managing the comical interventions and put-downs of Hoosier culture while maintaining the humanity of all the characters.

Considering the real-life 2010 incident that inspired the musical happened in Mississippi (complete with prom fake-out and celebrity aid), the show was apparently set in Indiana as a thumb in the eye of then-Vice President Mike Pence. It is good to see local companies take charge of the way Hoosiers are portrayed, even with an honest look at anti-LGBTQ attitudes. Frankly, though I understand the rules regarding scripts, I think it would be best if there were a local (fictional) setting for any conservative state where the musical is staged, lest folks think this is just poking fun at the ignorant people “over there.”

Any concerns about the story are rendered moot by the excellent performances. Charters and Shapiro are delights as well-meaning divas working to get over themselves. Van Paris, “antelope legs” and all, brings the “zazz” throughout. Mortier nimbly plays a goober who seems self-absorbed but wants to just feel appreciated, which comes about in – for him – a surprising way. Local treasure Ben Asaykwee brings his understated charm to the role of Glickman and Allen’s assistant Sheldon. Artzberger is solid as always, and a natural aid in helping the younger stars shine.

As for the youthful roles, Caslowitz gives an award-worthy, relatable, endearing performance, winning our hearts in the songs “Dance With You” and “Unruly Heart.” Evans does a lot with her principal supporting role, especially Alyssa’s signature song.

Excellent work as well by ensemble players Isabella Agresta, Lauren Blackwood, Keilyn Bryant, Izzy Casciani, Noah Greer, Tess Holloway, Seth Jacobsen, Day Johnson, Jilayne Kistner, Reagan Cole Minnette, Maddux Morrison, Martini Olaletan, Jacob Richardon, and Sofia Warren Fitzgerald.

The dancing is also fantastic, choreographed by Sean Aaron Carmon with choreography supervisor Phillip Crawshaw.

One week remains of this spectacle – a sort of “Footloose” for our times – as Summer Stock Stage takes on its new residence at Schrott Center for the Arts at Butler University. Performances are Wednesday through Sunday, with two shows on Saturday, June 4-8. Get tickets at summerstockstage.com or butlerartscenter.org.

Fall for the charms of SSS ‘Music Man’

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

By John Lyle Belden

It’s an often-told story: A stranger comes into a sleepy town and everything changes. However, in this case, that’s the stranger’s plan the whole time.

Summer Stock Stage presents a full production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” directed by founding artistic director Emily Ristine Holloway. And I do mean “full” – the whole musical on the full-size Ayers Auditorium stage (at Park Tudor School) with orchestra in the back, led by Mike Berg Raunick, and a cast that Holloway tongue-in-cheek calls “seventy-six actors” (a rough count in the program is close to that number). They represent 30 different Indiana schools, she said, mainly teenagers with younger children in age-appropriate roles.

This company gives an exceptional performance throughout, from the overture to the curtain call.

In 1912, “Professor” Harold Hill (Justus Palumbo) arrives in River City, Iowa, a practiced con man posing as a traveling salesman of band instruments and uniforms. The grift involves convincing a town it needs a youth band, selling them everything they need with the promise he’ll organize and teach, but skipping town with the money before giving a single actual lesson.

Iowans aren’t that easy to fool, especially town librarian Marian Paroo (Jilayne Kistner), but Hill accepts the challenge, demonizing the new pool tables downtown and getting everyone singing and dancing as they await the arrival of their instruments. Both Marian and Mayor Shinn (Andrew King) suspect something dishonest is happening, but are swept up in the events of that magical summer. Marion’s shy, lisping little brother Winthrop Paroo (Tad Klovsky) is coming out of his shell; meanwhile, local delinquent Tommy Djilas (Justice Harris) is doing honest work, albeit as Hill’s unwitting accomplice.

But even master manipulator Hill isn’t immune to changing attitudes – or love.

The cast also features Gracie Reckamp as Amaryllis, the girl with a crush on Winthrop; Taylor Smith as Marcellus Washburn, an old friend of Hill’s now in on the scam; Paige Murray as the Mayor’s wife Eulalie, who wishes to be seen as cultured so is easily talked into leading a women’s dance committee; Gabi Bradley as Zaneeta Shin, the Mayor’s daughter who is seeing Tommy; Elizabeth Hutson as Marion and Winthrop’s mother, who takes a shine to Hill from the beginning; Caleb Trinoskey as Charlie Cowell, a crude traveling salesman out to expose Hill; and Martini Otaletan, Jackson Bullock, Thomas Bowling, and Colin Alber as city School Board members who find themselves formed into a pitch-perfect barbershop quartet.

Palumbo and Kistner, both college-bound high school graduates, give professional-level performances as Harold and Marion. He gives Hill suave charisma and endless charm; while she presents as nobody’s fool, while understanding that this “band” may be the best thing to ever happen to this town.

King amuses with his bossy bluster as Mayor Shinn. Murray easily steals scenes as his wife. Hutson’s Mrs. Paroo is a steady presence, an old Irish soul whose only desire is for love to prevail. Klovsky, naturally, charms as Winthrop.

While the songs and story are what makes this musical famous, this production features some incredible dancing, choreographed by Phillip Crawshaw. The big numbers fill the stage with precision and dazzling moves; moments when Tommy and Zaneeta pair up really pop; and the movement and clever use of the books during “Marian the Librarian” are simply stunning.

For anyone who likes “The Music Man,” or is open to it, this brilliant production is a must. Performances are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 28-30. The Saturday Matinee is a “sensory-friendly” performance for patrons who would be more comfortable with that. Park Tudor is at 7200 N. College Ave., Indianapolis, follow the signs to Ayers Auditorium. Go to summerstockstage.com for tickets.