Nicole Bridgens

Mud Creek filled with holiday ‘Spirit’

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By Wendy Carson

Christmas is the time of the year we all gather with family and/or friends and celebrate the joy of the season. However, not all of us have loved ones with which to celebrate.

In Mud Creek Players’ “The Spirit of Christmas: A Holiday Cabaret,” such is the plight of Mabel (Anne Phelan), who is spending Christmas Eve cleaning the local theater where she volunteers. While struggling not to feel sorry for herself, a mysterious voice reminds her that while she may not have actual souls to be around, her rich supply of Christmas memories are what she should focus on.

The rest of the cast (Audrey Beaverson, Lauren Bogart, Nicole Bridgens, Stephen DiCarlo, Emily Keenan, Sophie Liese, Dani Lopez-Roque, Karen Naber, Noah Nordman, and Tara Weed) embody those memories and help guide Mabel through them to renew her Christmas Spirit. Even director Chris Bundy steps in a time or two.

Through a mix of traditional and newer songs, with a lesser-heard one or two, they remind Mabel, and us, of the delights of childhood and the meaning of Christmas. They even have a hilarious take on “The 12 Days of Christmas” that will have you seeing that song in a very different way.

Bundy and the Mud Creek crew have changed up the seating arrangements, giving the “Barn” a true cabaret set-up with audience members seated at tables throughout the venue. Tables are provided with a delicious snack mix and Holiday Punch for all as well as a trio of desserts and other drink choices served by the performers at intermission, all at no extra charge.

Remaining performances, Friday through Sunday, Dec. 8-10, are sold out, according to MudCreekPlayers.org. Go to the Contact page on the site, or email info@mudcreekplayers.org to ask about possible openings due to cancellations or additional seating.

Footlite show on a ‘Cole’-fired ship

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By John Lyle Belden

With so much drama around us, sometimes it’s nice to indulge in a light musical: All aboard, then, for a “De-Lovely” voyage aboard the SS American in Footlite Musicals’ production of “Anything Goes.”

The comic plot involves love, gangsters on the lam, and a lot of silly disguises and misunderstandings. Billy Crocker (Trenton Baker) wants to stop his girl Hope Harcourt’s (Sydney Norwalk) ill-advised marriage to English “gentleman” Sir Evelyn Oakleigh (Ryan Straut), and gets aid from “America’s Thirteenth-Most-Wanted” Moonface Martin (Tom Bartley) and song-and-dance sensation Reno Sweeney (Susie Harloff).

While that’s good for some laughs, the show’s main purpose is as a delivery vehicle for the hits of Cole Porter (“You’re the Top,” “De-Lovely,” “Friendship,” “I Get a Kick out of You,” “Blow Gabriel Blow” and more, including the title tune) and at that, this production delivers.

Norwalk makes a shining Footlite debut; Baker provides his triple-threat credentials; and Harloff, with the help of Reno’s Angels (Kristen Tschiniak, Becca DeTar, Tara Roberds and Nicole Bridgens) takes charge of the ship with dynamite song and dance numbers (with much credit due to Trish Roberds’ choreography). Straut’s frantic fop is a hoot, and Bartley’s comic chops are spot on, aided by another brilliant performance by Emily Schaab as Martin’s accomplice, Bonnie. Craig Kemp adds to the laughs with his hard-luck businessman, Elisha Whitney (Crocker’s boss). Also impressive are dancing sailors Kyle Cherry and Noah Fields.

The book is admittedly a little dated – and director Kathleen Clarke Horrigan admits as much in her opening curtain speech – but this old gem still entertains. Performances are weekends through March 19 at 1847 N. Alabama St., near downtown Indianapolis. Call 317-926-6630 or visit www.footlite.org.

John L. Belden is also Associate Editor and A&E editor of The Eagle (formerly The Word), the Indianapolis-based Midwest LGBTQ news source.

Incredible ‘Cabaret’

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NOTE: As the Word/Eagle is in flux with the renaming and corresponding change in official website, John is still putting his reviews here.

By John Lyle Belden

The Actors Theatre of Indiana production of Kander and Ebb’s “Cabaret” is one of those “even if you’ve seen it before” shows that you absolutely should see.

And if you are only familiar with the Joel Gray/Liza Minnelli movie version of the musical, you haven’t seen it like this – as ATI and director Billy Kimmel opt for the “revival” version of the production. This perfectly suits the brilliant Ben Asaykwee as the randy Emcee (in the Tony-winning style of Alan Cumming).

Asaykwee struts and coos his way through the story of American writer Cliff Bradshaw (Eric J. Olson) and wayward English singer Sally Bowles (ATI co-founder Cynthia Collins) in Berlin just as the Nazis are seizing power. Collins is appropriately brash and charismatic and in great voice. Olson tackles an everyman role (though gay, or at least bisexual) with the perfect touch, our proxy to events that are at first unbelievable in a fun and entertaining sense, then chilled with approaching calamity.

Patrick Vaughn is smooth as the deceptively charming Ernst Ludwig, Debra Babich is strong yet sweet as landlady Fraulein Schneider, and Darrin Murrell as Jewish shopkeeper Herr Schultz makes you ache to know that such a wonderful man is unwilling to see the growing danger around him. Also notable are Judy Fitzgerald as working-girl Fraulein Kost, Nicholas Roman and Kenny Shepard as sensuous bookends Bobby and Victor (and other roles as needed), the BEAUTIFUL Kit Kat girls Nicole Bridgens, Jenee Michelle, Ashley Saunders and Carol Worcel (who also choreographed) and the BEAUTIFUL orchestra.

As history lesson, allegory, love story and brilliant entertainment, this show works on all levels. See it through Nov. 20 at the Studio Theatre (next to the Tarkington) in The Center for the Performing Arts, 4 Center Green, Carmel. Call 317-843-3800 or see www.atistage.org. Note there are a few table seats right next to the stage; inquire with the box office as to availability.

John L. Belden is Associate Editor at The Eagle (formerly The Word), the central-Indiana based Midwest LGBTQ news source.