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Reviewed June 17
Running time 1:40 - one intermission
A slow moving rustic comedy
 ending with pies in faces
Performances are at St. John's Episcopal Church, 3427 Olney-Laytonsville Road in Olney

Storyline: The domestic tranquility of the Fever household is threatened by the twin forces of the Federal Government, which wants to know why father Big Buck Fever hasn't filed a tax return in four years, and the State, which wants to build a superhighway through his front yard. Things seem hopeless until bodies start being unearthed where all those old arrowheads used to be found, and the forces of progress may have to yield to the importance of the past.

You know you are in for an evening of stretched conventions when you note that the family of "Big Buck Fever" (the appropriately large Craig Miller) lives in a ramshackle house where the Confederate battle flag hides peeling plaster (marvelously detailed in the theatrical flats making up George Wamsley's one-room set) but also seems to have a maid. Amy Taylor plays the maid whose real function in the play is to provide knowing comments on the perspective of her employers. Libby Dasback is Gramma Fever who packs a rifle, the acrobatic Patrick Carey is son Myron who seems to be the product of too many generations of inbreeding, and lithe Jen Cravey is daughter Nancy who wears short cut offs and tight tops about as well as Daisy Mae on Sadie Hawkins Day. The threat from outside comes from young Devin Dasbach as the IRS agent who falls for the daughter, and Tricia Weiler as the representative of the highway construction project.

Author Pat Cook calls this play a "southern soap opera spoof." In this slowly paced presentation, it is frequently difficult to determine if the target of the spoof is the supposed insularity of rural southerners already spoofed much more memorably by television's Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres or even The Dukes of Hazard, or the supposedly more sophisticated representatives of civilization like highway construction companies and the IRS. There's no good reason that it has to be just one or the other, of course. Think of the marvelous success of Andy Capp's Lil Abner in spoofing both. But here there seems some confusion both between the targets of the spoof and the forms of comedy being mounted.

 In his notes in the program director Rick Starkweather discusses the honorable tradition of slapstick comedy, but the kind of comedy actually contained in this script is more of the vaudeville sketch variety with its emphasis on complications and puns rising in equal measure out of misunderstandings and misuse of language. Gramma's line early in the evening, complaining that nothing exciting ever happens in the household, resulting in "B-O-A-R-D-U-M" signals that the author is as interested in verbal spoofs as he is in the comedy of physical abuse. The flying chicken legs in the first act sort of telegraph the fact that there will be pies thrown in the second, but a pie in the face is as injurious as the humor here gets. As Starkweather sets up the more physical bits, he tends to slight the other types of humor in the material although he does get a good laugh out of the doorbell that plays "Dixie."

Written by Pat Cook. Directed by Rick Starkweather. Design: George Wamsley (set) Jenn Alexander (costumes) Joe Conner (lights) Dave Eikens (sound) Melanie Dasbach (stage manager). Cast: Patrick Carey, Jen Cravey, Devin Dasbach, Libby Dasbach, Craig Miller, Jen Raffensperger, Amy Taylor, Tricia Weiler.

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Reviewed May 16
Performed at the Millian United Methodist Church
13106 Parkland Drive in Rockville
Running time 2 hours 40 minute

With a cast of over a dozen singing roles and nearly forty songs in a practically sung-through score, this musical would be an ambitious undertaking for many bigger, more solidly established community theaters. It would even challenge a lot of professional troupes. This is a co-production of the Sandy Spring Theatre Group, that peripatetic small troupe that has been searching for a permanent home for two decades, and a newly formed company, Fallen Angel Productions, which is mounting its very first show. The effort they put forward on this complex show is impressive but the show is just too challenging for the talents available. As a result, there are many individual elements and moments that work but too many that don’t. And the misses frequently mar the impact of the successes. That this is the American premiere of a musical by an established British composer makes it an important show, but not necessarily a good one.

Storyline: Early in World War II, eight volunteers in the newly-formed Women’s Auxiliary Air Force face stresses from many fronts: the effort to adapt to a military life style and discipline, the uncertainty over the eventual outcome of a war that isn’t going well, the grief over losses at home and among their new colleagues and the social pressures of being away from family and in close quarters with the pilots and other young men in uniform.

Howard Goodall’s musical is a hefty, substantial work that treats its subject with respect and a sense of admiration. Goodall grew up in the post-World War II generation and obviously feels a debt of gratitude to those who made such incredible sacrifices to defend their island nation. He doesn’t portray these young women as either mere playthings for the warriors or “sweet-young-things” doing their bit for the war effort. His portrait is more complex and the individuals are more distinctly drawn. The music he has written for them and for the men they share an Air Force base with, is also much more than just a collection of Glenn Miller-sounding period pieces. It is rich and melodic although it frequently has lyrics that state a single concept but don’t develop it very much. Most of the songs don’t have a second or third chorus because they have already made their point the first time through.

Each of the four leads brings some strengths to the show. Mia Reeves has a strong stage presence as the WAAF who thinks she has something special going on with flier played by Joshua Davis, but Laura Jeanne Ingalls has her bright eyes on him as well. Davis is struggling with a part written for a tenor while his voice is really a baritone. He can impress with the lower register of the part however. The real strength of the cast is Rebecca A. Herron who, wracked with concern for her family after they have been bombed out and struggling with the terrors of war, has two major numbers that are actually arias with significant lyrics. She sings them with equal emphasis on their melodies and on the meaning behind their lyrics. She gets stronger as the evening progresses.

Unfortunately, the work of these leads, uneven as it is, is further undermined by weak voices, poor pitch and some timidity in the supporting parts. Mike Martin tries hard but frequently can’t seem to find the key for his songs as the flier’s best friend. Director Stan Levin is probably to be credited with inventive use of the space of this basement hall in a church, for there is no set designer credited. Most of the action takes place on the bare floor of the hall with only a few side scenes played out on the proscenium stage to the audience’s left. Still, with the fine job Joe-Jon Sykes and Daniel Rehbehn did on assembling costumes of the period and the effective lighting design of Joe Connor, the problems of the show are in the weaknesses of the cast and not in the physical production.

Written by Howard Goodall. Directed by Stan Levin. Choreographed by Robin Covington. Design: Joe-Jon Sykes and Daniel Rehbehn (costumes) Joe Conner (lights) Dave Eikens (sound) Joe-Jon Sykes and Robert Teachout (stage managers). Cast: April Biechler, Sandra Boldman, Salima Chadly, Robin Covington, Joshua Davis, Faith Evans, Rebecca A. Herron, Laura Jeanne Ingalls, Mike Kelley, Mike Martin, Mia Reeves, Daniel Rehbehn, Debs Szymkowiak.