"Dames at Sea"

September 9, 2015 — I was frankly surprised at how shut down Lincoln, New Hampshire was only two days after Labor Day. With the temperature hovering around 90, the popular Clark's Trading Post and Hobo Railroad were both closed. My biggest disappointment was finding my favorite ice cream parlor closed for the season. I had lunch at the usually busy Truant's Tavern, and I was the only customer during the noon hour.

I had traveled to Lincoln for an afternoon performance of "Dames at Sea" at Jean's Playhouse. The musical, first produced off-broadway in 1966 with book and lyrics by George Haimsohn and Robin Miller and music by Jim Wise, featuring a newcomer named Bernadette Peters, is a take-off on the big Hollywood musicals. In an oft-repeated plot, a girl from the sticks with no experience gets her big break and becomes a star when the show's original star is incapacitated.

Directed and choreographed for Jean's by Julie Tomaino, this was a surprisingly good show, performed by a very talented young cast of six, with lots of energy, fine song numbers, and great tap-dancing. A live three-member band was good, but there was some distortion by the sound system, a problem I've noticed in other Jean's Playhouse shows.

It's the '30s, and Ruby (Kaylee Verble) arrives in New York from Utah with nothing in her luggage but dancing shoes. She begs producer Hennessey (David Dennison) for a part in his musical. Hennessey is reluctant, but the wise-cracking Joan (Catherine Skojec) convinces him to give her a chance. Prima donna Mona Kent (Anna Sheridan), the star of the show, has nothing but disdain for Ruby. Dick (Andrew Burton Kelley), a sailor, befriends Ruby.

In the second act, the cast has moved aboard a ship at sea after their theater is scheduled to be torn down. Dennison now plays his second role as the captain, a former love interest of Mona. A second sailor, Lucky (Josh Dennis) joins the cast. One of the highlights of the show for me was a duet by Dennison and Sheridan.

Ruby gets her big chance when Mona becomes seasick. She leads the cast in a well-choreographed production number at the end of the show. I should also mention the nice costumes by Hunter Dowell and Arianna Knox's set, especially the ship in the second act. My trip to Lincoln was rewarded in spite of the town's post-Labor Day slump. It will be revived when ski season starts up.

"Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

September 2, 2015 — "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been adapted for movies and plays more than one hundred times. It's usually fleshed out by adding dialog, backstory and even characters, because Robert Louis Stevenson's slender novella doesn't provide a lot to work with. He allegedly wrote it in three to six days while bed-ridden with an illness. Still, purist that I am, I'd like to see it as the master intended it to be. It's compact, scary, to the point, and has great dramatic punch. Then again, its flowery Victorian dialog might lose modern audiences.

The Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith, New Hampshire, chose David Edgar's adaptation of the classic for its production. It includes a couple of additional characters and plot not found in Stevenson's original. Directed by Nick Saldivar, the Winni rolled out its finest actors, a few of whom played multiple roles, in this performance made all the more challenging by frequent scene changes. Andrew Stuart's ingeniously designed set and a crack stage crew pulled off the many changes quickly and efficiently.

Nicholas Wilder, in one of his patented over-the-top performances, was perfectly cast as the Jekyll/Hyde character. Maybe I'm being over-cautious, but I never put children's names on the Internet without a parent or guardian's permission, as much as I'd love to give credit to the two charming youngsters who played Jekyll's niece and nephew, characters added in Edgar's adaptation. Also appearing, all excellent, were Richard Brundage, A. J. Ditty, Elizabeth Swan, Helen McMillan and Jason Plourde. Ray Dudley, one of the Winni community players, more than held his own among the professionals.

"Stella & Lou"

September 1, 2015 — These two actors demonstrated the same great chemistry in Bruce Graham's "Stella & Lou" as they did in "Auld Lang Syne" in 2012.  Kathy Manfre as Stella won Best Actress award at the New Hampshire Theatre Awards for her role in the 2012 play. Cast as Lou was Gordon Clapp who won an Emmy for his role as Detective Medavoy in the long-running TV police drama, "NYPD Blue." Directing "Stella & Lou" for the Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire, was Gus Kaikkonen, who was also the set designer, and what a great set it was, a marvelous replica of a seedy South Philadelphia saloon.

Lou, proprietor of the South Philly bar, is left mostly alone after the death of his wife two years earlier, and the passing of most of his friends and associates. He looks forward to the brief visits from Stella, a registered nurse, several times a week. Stella had helped care for Lou's wife during her long illness.

In their long evening of conversation, just the two of them in Lou's bar, Stella tries to pull Lou out of his malaise. Lou, hopelessly set in his ways and unwilling to change, resists. Their conversation ranges from funny to poignant, occasionally erupting in anger. Two fine actors kept the audience totally engaged throughout this play about second chances.