"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.

"Urinetown"

August 27, 2015 — The last time I was at the Barnstormers in Tamworth, New Hampshire, artistic director Bob Shea addressed the audience as usual before that night’s show, “The Hollow,” and promoted their next show, which he described as “the unfortunately titled ‘Urinetown’.” Well, that’s exactly how I felt about it. In fact, I had been avoiding “Urinetown,” which has played somewhere every summer for the past dozen or so years, because I was put off by the title. But it was the Barnstormers’ final show of their 85^th season, there’s only one more show on my schedule, and I was reluctant to let go of this summer that seems to have gone by in a flash. So I made a reservation for the musical comedy “Urinetown.”

With music and lyrics by Mark Hollmann and book and lyrics by Greg Kotis, "Urinetown" opened on Broadway in 2001 and was nominated for ten Tony Awards and won three. The Barnstormers production was directed by Clayton Phillips. Here's the plot in a nutshell: a 20-year drought has caused a terrible water shortage making toilets unusable. California should take note. Only public pay facilities may be used, all controlled by a megacorporation named “Urine Good Company” (ouch!).

I was wrong to avoid this play. It has terrific musical numbers and biting satire attacking everything from corporations to the police to big government, and yes, even itself. The cast of seventeen, led by Jordan Ahnquist, Rachel Alexa Norman, Cheryl Mullings, Tony Edgerton and Dale Place wrapped the Barnstormers' season with arguably the year's best show. So if "Urinetown" comes to your town, get over the title and see it. You won't regret it.

"Accidental Death of an Anarchist"

August 13, 2015 — In 1969, Italian railwayman and anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli fell (or was thrown) to his death from the fourth floor window of a Milan police station. He was being interrogated for bombing a bank but was cleared of the charge. Not the sort of event you would expect a playwright to base a comedy on, but that's exactly what Dario Fo did in 1970 in "Accidental Death of an Anarchist," just one year after the incident, portraying the police in very unflattering light and bringing threats of violence against his theater company. But he soldiered on, staging his play all over Italy, and it became a worldwide hit.

The Winnipesaukee Playhouse in Meredith, New Hampshire, has staged an excellent production of Fo's play, translated by Ed Emery and directed for the Playhouse by Matt Cahoon. A. J. Ditty is the whole show in his over-the-top performance as 'The Maniac." An inmate of a series of mental institutions, he has the inept police department flummoxed as he poses as a judge investigating the death of the anarchist who mysteriously plunged from the police station window. Appearing as the police are Jason Plourde, Richard Brundage, Nicholas Wilder and John-Michael Breen. Rebecca Tucker appears late in the final act as a journalist.

The 45-year-old play, although uproariously funny, contains some sharp social commentary that could still make some uncomfortable today. It's not above employing occasional slapstick, and breaking out in song and a brief dance now and them.

The play traditionally has two endings, and the audience is invited to choose the one they like best. The Winnipesaukee Playhouse has chosen not to give the audience this choice, and the play stops short of the two endings, giving it a slightly abrupt finish and a feeling of incompleteness. But up until then, it's a tour de force.

"The Hollow"

August 6, 2015 — I love the Agatha Christie mysteries, so I had been looking forward to "The Hollow," one of the few Christie plays I hadn't seen, directed by Robert Shea for The Barnstormers in Tamworth, New Hampshire, now in its 85th season. Dr. John Cristow (Blair Hundertmark) and his wife, Gerda (Dee Nelson) have accepted an invitation from the Angkatells (Robert Bates and Vinette Cotter) to spend a weekend at the Hollow, the Angkatells' country estate. Dr. Cristow has jumped at the opportunity upon hearing his mistress, Henrietta (Anne-Marie Cusson) will also be present. Cristow's clueless wife is seemingly unaware of the affair. What Cristow doesn't expect is that a former mistress, Veronica Craye, a famous Hollywood actress (Madeleine Maby), will show up before the first evening is over. Also invited for the weekend are Midge (Anna Marie Sell), a distant cousin of the Angkatell's, and Edward Angkatell (Doug Shapiro). Also present are the butler, Gudgeon (Frank T. Wells), and a servant, Doris (Elizabeth Henle).

You just know this volatile mix can only mean trouble. At the end of the first evening, Dr. Cristow is shot dead. In typical Dame Agatha fashion, most of the large cast of characters is under suspicion. Each had motive and opportunity. The many rooms, doors, windows and surrounding woods make it easy for a killer to be undetected. An inspector (Dale Place) and his assistant (Greg Pike) are stymied by the conflicting witness accounts and confusing evidence. An inquest is inconclusive.

Could the killer be Cristow's wife, discovered standing over the body with a gun in her hand? Seems too obvious. What about Edward, who is known to have detested Cristow? Then there's that former mistress, the actress. Furious when Dr. Cristow spurns her advances, she makes some veiled threats. And what about the servant girl's account of seeing the butler standing outside a window holding a gun? The perpetrator won't be revealed until the final minutes.

Regrettably, I can't give this play unconditional praise. It seemed overlong, and the acting was a bit stiff, surprising since the large cast included the Barnstormers' best actors. They weren't really on their game for this first-night performance. The long play needs some fire and passion to keep the audience involved. Hopefully, the actors can put a little more life in their performances before the play ends its run.

"Charley's Aunt"

August 5, 2015 — For the fourth time, The Peterborough Players in Peterborough, New Hampshire, offered "Charlie's Aunt" by Brandon Thomas, a highly popular play ever since it first opened in London in 1892. Almost everyone has heard of it. I was seeing it for the first time. It's a hilarious farce where the laughs are non-stop.

Jack (Steven Walters) and Charley (Alex Bodine) are rehearsing how they're going to declare their love for Kitty (Karen Peakes) and Amy (Alycia Kunkle). But first, they have to get them alone. This is dependent on Charley's aunt, Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez, a rich widow (Lisa Bostnar), arriving from Brazil to act as the girls' chaperone before they can be in the presence of the two young men. This is 19th Century England, after all. Their plans appear to be dashed when they get word Charley's aunt has been delayed indefinitely, and the girls are scheduled to leave for Scotland the next day with Stephen Spettigue (Michael Page, in one of his patented curmudgeonly, sputtering roles), uncle of Amy and guardian of Kitty.

Enter Lord Fancourt Babberley (Kraig Swartz, perfectly cast in a role that seems made for him). While visiting Jack and Charley, he leaves the room to try on a costume he's wearing in a play he's appearing in. The costume happens to be a woman's black gown with white lace and a wig. This may be the solution to Jack and Charley's dilemma. They convince the reluctant Babberley he can pose as Charley's aunt. Are you following this so far?

Many complications ensue, all uproarious. Colonel Sir Francis Chesney, Jack's father (Patrick Reynolds), bankrupt after paying off his debts, is urged to seek Charley's millionaire aunt's hand in marriage. Unfortunately, Spettigue has the same designs on her (him). Things get even more interesting when Charley's real aunt shows up while Babberley is still impersonating her. The real aunt plays along with the charade, at least temporarily. If that isn't enough, Charley's real aunt is accompanied by her adopted niece (Bridget Beirne) a former love interest of Babberley's.

I should also mention Tom Frey as the butler, Brassett, a small role but not an insignificant one. This production was directed by Charles Morey. Scenic designer Roger Hanna's work earned a round of applause when a completely new set was revealed when the curtain rose on the third act.