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Restraint. Moderation. Gentleness. These are the keys to the charm of this
production of a warm comedy that quietly gets under your skin and worms its
way into your heart. It is a difficult feat to pull off, particularly for a
community theater where the pool of available talent may be a limiting
factor. Here, all the elements seem in balance, with charming performances
ranging from amiable to appealing and design work that shares a naturalistic
bent just right for a comedy based on the importance of accepting reality.
Storyline: During the drought-ridden depression years, a stranger claiming
he can make rain enters the lives of the Curry family: caring but pragmatic
father J.C. Curry, skeptical realist eldest son Noah, romantic youngest
brother Jimmy and daughter Lizzie on the verge of spinsterhood. The stranger
may offer a miracle more important than rain.
The
story here is so simple and the structure of N. Richard Nash’s script so
open and apparently uncomplicated that great damage can be done by overdoing
practically anything. Overacting can be fatal. Over-doing the set or the
costumes or the lighting or the sound can be harmful. Speeding up the pace
can kill the slow unfolding of Nash’s story. Thus, it is the director who
sets the limits who must be held responsible for success or failure. Credit
Bridget Muehlberger with a great success.
Every
key performance is smooth, rich and unhurried. The entire Curry family is
given marvelously restrained, but clearly delineated, performances. As the
father, Steve LaRocque builds slowly and surely to his third act scene in
which he takes command of his family to protect his daughter’s right to some
happiness. As the older brother, Guy Palace shows just the right amount of
frustration over the burdens of assuming responsibility in a family beset by
depression and drought. The brightest, funniest performance comes from Matt
Baughman as the younger brother. But he finds just the right limits in order
to make sure the comedy never damages the main story. The best performance
in the family comes in the most important role where Erika Imhoof creates a
portrait of a woman whose stoic acceptance of her perceived limitations has
gone too far and who is saved at the last possible moment from a fate that
isn’t necessarily worse than death but is simply a lingering negation of
life.
Muehlberger’s touch must have extended to the design team as well, for there
is a uniform feel to the physical production that is substantial, realistic
and works quite well. There are no individual excesses in the design of the
set or the lighting or the costuming. Instead, they all work together to
create a 1930’s world so believable it gives defining contrast to the magic
of the stranger’s miracle.
Written by N. Richard
Nash. Directed by Bridget Muehlberger. Design: Bruce Starr (set) Katryn
Richardson (costumes) AnnMarie Castrigno (lights) Bridget Muehlberger
(sound) Dean Evangelista (photography). Cast: Erika Imhoof, Steve LaRocque, Matt Baughman, Guy Palace,
Andrew S. Greenleaf, Steven R. Escobar, John Malloy. |
