Renee Whiten Lopez

Westfield takes on beloved comedy

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By John Lyle Belden

As it’s been said, classics are classic for a reason. From time to time, community theatres bring out the hilarious antics of the eccentric extended Sycamore family in Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s comedy, “You Can’t Take It With You.” This week, the invitation is extended by Main Street Productions of Westfield.

Sweet twenty-year-old Alice Sycamore (Hannah Partridge) is in love with her boss, Anthony Kirby (Aaron Budde), a young executive thanks to his chief executive father (David Dessauer). Tony and Alice want to get married, but she’s afraid the Kirbys couldn’t deal with her family – father Paul Sycamore (James Semmelroth Darnell) makes fireworks in the basement with the help of Mr. DePinna (Eric Bowman), who came to deliver ice years ago and never left; mother Penny Sycamore (Carrie Reiberg) writes melodramatic unfinished plays on a typewriter that just showed up on their doorstep; sister Essie (Cara Olson) makes candy “Love Dreams” daily but really wants to dance (though she’s awful at it), while her husband Ed Carmichael (Noah Shepard) plays the xylophone and obsessively prints cards, menus, and papers with whatever sounds interesting to him; finally, grandfather Martin Vanderhof (John Welch) does whatever he likes because he walked away from his downtown office decades ago and never looked back.

Their maid Rheba (Sophie Liese) is a so-so cook but very understanding and fits right in this household, along with her Irish boyfriend Donald (Austin Uebelhor), who helps when he can, as long as it doesn’t jeopardize his “relief” payments. Russian expat Boris Kolenkhov (Louis Cavallari) tries in vain to teach Essie ballet; this being 1938, he still remembers his homeland before the Soviets and knows exiled nobility including The Grand Duchess Olga Katrina (Miki Mathioudakis). We also meet inebriated actress Gay Wellington (Susan Hill), who isn’t related or a resident, yet adds to the chaos in her own way.

There are also appearances by Tony’s father and mother (Renee Whiten Lopez), as well as Tom Smith as nosy government agents, along with Aaron Ploof and Emma Fox.

For those unfamiliar, yes, it’s a lot. But there is subtle method to this madness in a funny fable about love, acceptance, and truly living out the pursuit of happiness.

Under director Nicole Amsler, everyone gets their moments to shine. Darnell plays Paul as single-minded, trusting the others to do what’s needed, yet amiable when not downstairs. Bowman gives DePinna a sense of joy that reveals a man who would much rather play with fire than work with ice. Reiberg’s Penny is the kind of unassuming person whom whatever she is doing at the moment is right thing, and you can’t help but agree. Shepard and Olson as Ed and Essie seem to not be the sharpest knives in the block, yet come across as charmingly naïve, never stupid. Cavallari brings big energy to his role, making Kolenkhov feel like just one of the family.

Partridge nimbly plays Alice’s struggle to maintain normalcy while still loving her family. Budde, for his part, gives Tony a growing admiration for the freedom that the household represents.

As the patriarch, Welch lends a subtle gravitas to Grandpa. He has his quirks – like keeping snakes – but is as down-to-earth a character one could find. When he says grace in his unique way during the mealtime scenes, you can’t help but feel welcome at his table.

Be their guest this Thursday through Sunday, June 6-9, at the Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St. Get tickets at westfieldplayhouse.org.

BCP drama examines historical mystery

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By John Lyle Belden

On Aug. 4, 1892, somebody murdered Abby and Andrew Borden in Fall River, Mass. This is historical fact, as well as the arrest and trial of Andrew’s daughter, Lizzie, for the killings. The last 130 years have seen the growth of legends, myths, and a nursery rhyme around the incident, the kind of true-crime story familiar to those who remember the sensationalized double-murder trial of a former football star in the 1990s.

Buck Creek Players takes a whack at the lore with “Lizzie Borden of Fall River” by Tim Kelly, directed by Ben Jones.

The first act sets up the infamous events. Lizzie (Renee Whiten Lopez) is smart and headstrong, as well as kind to those she loves, even her strict and stingy father, Andrew (Tim Latimer). She shows no love or affection to stepmother Abby (Sarah Latimer), whom she is sure married her father for his wealth and controls his decisions. Lizzie and sister Emma (Rachel Bush) are very close, sharing to a degree an impatience with their father and distrust of the stepmother. Their live-in maid Bridget (Amelia Tryon) is adored by the girls, but has problems with the parents, who blame her and not the days-old mutton for recent stomach ailments.

Other characters who factor into the coming events include handyman Mr. Sousa (Josh Rooks) from whom Andrew withholds part of his pay because “you might spend it foolishly;” Aunt Vinnie Morris (Cyrena Knight), who wishes to claim a New Hampshire property promised by her sister (the girls’ mother) as her dying wish, but which Andrew refuses as there is no binding contract; neighbor Mrs. Churchill (Lea Ellingwood), who is outraged that Lizzie took the church’s Sunday School superintendent position she felt entitled to; church minister Rev. Jubb (Matt Trgovac), who is very fond of Lizzie; and the girls’ friend Alice (Cass Knowling).

Fortunately, the dire deed is done with sound-effects, the only blood being on Lizzie’s hands after she discovers her father’s body.

The second act, appropriate for an audience raised on Law & Order reruns, focuses on the arrest and trial. Patrolman Harrington (Jason Roll) at first has to protect against the mob and onlookers around the Borden home, but then has to slap the cuffs on Lizzie when the Marshall (Dustin Miller) comes to arrest her. On her side are Boston attorney Ms. Jennings (Melissa Sandullo) and New York Sun reporter Amy Robsart (Nora Burkhart). At one point Sousa’s wife Carlotta (Breanna Helms) appears, concerned that her husband is a potential suspect.

Though it does present its own theory of what happened, don’t expect this drama to be the conclusive last word. Lizzie Borden’s guilt or innocence is still a matter of debate, and Kelly took some license with characters and events.

Presented as an entertaining history-based whodunit, the play works with a bit of melodrama and almost comic foreshadowing. In what I suspect is a mixture of the script, Jones’ guidance, and Sarah Latimer’s stony delivery, Abby is so thoroughly despicable, we all want to take a turn with the hatchet. Tim Latimer’s performance shows Andrew to be more a product of his times and frugal upbringing, but not entirely without heart. Tryon’s Sullivan is sweet and likable, even when the discovery of poison adds her to the suspect list. Rooks manages to perfectly balance Sousa’s principled stance and his hot-headedness. Knight gives Aunt Vinnie charming sweetness that gives way to injured desperation. Ellingwood delivers a mix of nosy and nasty that helps make Churchill an unreliable witness. Bush masterfully works Emma’s interesting arc that draws her slowly from the periphery to the center of the plot.

Lopez gives us a fully realized, relatable character in Lizzie, with charisma somewhere between Susan B. Anthony and Mary Poppins, but always with that dark edge, a shadow that still follows over a century later.

So, who did it? Who saw what and when? What of the poison, or the destroyed dress? You have one more weekend to find out, Friday through Sunday, Aug. 12-14 at Buck Creek Playhouse, 11150 Southeastern Ave. (Acton Road exit off I-74), Indianapolis. Get information and tickets at buckcreekplayers.com.