[NEohioPAL]Berko Reviews: Picnic (Actors' Summit) & Grease (Palace Theatre)

[Roy Berko]

‘PICNIC’ FINE AT ACTORS’ SUMMIT, ‘GREASE’ SLIDES
THROUGH CLEVELAND

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	


‘PICNIC’ FINE AT ACTORS’ SUMMIT

In the mid-nineteen fifties and for the next decade,
three playwrights dominated the U.S.  dramatic scene:
Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams and William Inge. 
Known as the Modernists, since their writing examined
real people and real issues of the post World War II
modern era, they each left their mark on American
theatre.  

Miller constantly asked, "Is this the best way to
live?" while centering his plays along the eastern
seaboard.  Think of ‘DEATH OF A SALESMAN,’ ‘ALL MY
SONS,’ ‘THE CRUCIBLE,’ and ‘THE PRICE.’  

Williams, the southerner, continued to observe women
who found themselves in societies which didn’t
understand them, and which they didn’t understand. 
Think of Blanche DuBois in ‘STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE"
and ‘Amanda Winfield’ in ‘THE GLASS MENAGERIE.’  

Then there was William Inge, the troubled midwesterner
who explored the darker recesses inside each person. 
His plays often reflected his depressed state which
finally lead to his suicide.  His autobiographical
"DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS" and his classic "COME
BACK LITTLE SHEBA’ are but two of his probing
inquiries.  Many critics, including this one, consider
his 1955  play ‘PICNIC’ to be his signature work.  It
won the Pulitzer Prize, the Drama Critics Circle
Award, the Outer Circle Award, and the Theatre Club
Award.

The action of the play is set in a small Kansas town
outside the home of Flo Owens, a middle-aged widow who
lives with her two daughters and a spinster boarder.
When drifter Hal Carter arrives in time for the town’s
Labor Day celebration the women’s lives are disrupted
and transformed.

On the surface ‘PICNIC’ appears to be a simple play to
produce.  Everything needed to develop clear
characters is present in the script, and the setting
is a backyard with a single house as the backdrop. 
‘PICNIC’ is anything but simple to stage.  Based on
Inge’s midwestern quiet voice a production requires a
director and cast who are aware of the power of
underplay.  This is not a play of great emoting.   It
is a play that requires clear character etching, as
Inge is a person writer, not a plot developer.  Too
many productions are ruined by not understanding the
need for midwestern restraint.

It was a daunting task for Neil Thackaberry and his
Actors’ Studio cast to stage ‘PICNIC.’   They did a
very, very credible job.  In spite of some minor
glitches, such as some line flubbs and the
inexplicable use of southern accents by some of the
cast, this is one of the theatre’s best productions. 
The director and cast were in harmony on their
interpretation, understanding of Inge, and grasp of
the right nuances to make the play work.

Though not completely the right physical types for the
lead roles, Constance Thackaberry as Maud and Keith
Stevens as Hal developed their characters well.  Hal’s
total charade of life would have been better portroyed
if Stevens, in earlier scenes, had displayed a little
more braggadocio in his speech and swagger, but, as
is, this was a believable performance.  Thackaberry
needed to show a little more vulnerability for being
perceived as a physical trophy rather than appreciated
as a person; but, again, this was a respectable
performance.

Ellen Rankin was properly pathetic as Helen Potts, the
next door neighbor.  Eryn Murman’s tomboyish Millie
was on target.  MaryJo Alexander gave one of her best
career performances as Flo, Millie and Madge’s mother.
 Scott Espositio was close to perfect as Alan. 
(Considering that this revewier has played the
Alan-role twice, this is a high compliment.)

One of the most difficult scenes in American modern
theatre is the "Rosemary and Howard scene" in which
Rosemary, an old maid school teacher begs beau,
Howard, a milktoast-type store owner, to marry her.  
Too many times the scene is overacted and played for
laughs.  The test of any production is whether the
audience sits in stunned silence during the scene.  
The opening night Actors’ Summit audience stopped
breathing and was held in rapt silence by the stunning
performances by Lucy Bredeson Smith and Bob Keefe.  
This was one of the very best presentations of this
scene I have ever experienced.  Bredeson-Smith is
perfection in all of her scenes.

Once the cast gets settled into their roles, and the
line stumbles and exact characterizations are more
finely honed, ‘PICNIC’ at Actors’ Summit should be one
of the theatre’s very best presentations to date.

PICNIC plays through June 1 at Actors’ Summit’s
wonderfully intimate theatre-in-the three-quarter
round.  For tickets call 330-34200800 or visit on-line
to actorssummit.org.


‘GREASE’ SLIDES THROUGH CLEVELAND


Audience members who came to the Palace Theatre to
hear Frankie Avalon recreate his film portrayal of
Teen Angel in the film version of ‘GREASE’ got their
money’s worth.  He not only appeared briefly during
the show, but did a Las Vegas stand-up act during the
curtain call.  

Those who came to see a classic production of 
‘GREASE’, the rock and roll musical that captured the
true picture of the ‘50s, should have been
disappointed.  Should have been, but probably weren’t
upset because many in the audience didn’t have any
idea of what the 50s were all about.  

The audience, mostly made up of teens, probably
weren’t aware of the lack of era correctness.  The
costumes were not really those of the era...no poodle
skirts, no turned up cuffs on the Levi 501s, no black
or white t-shirts with cigarette packs rolled up the
sleeves.  They didn’t realize that the music had been
transposed to make it lose its mellow and true rock
sounds.  They didn’t realize that the disk jockey
didn’t sound like Bill Randall, Phil McLean or Alan
Fried, but was a jiving 2003 incarnation.    

Those who did know, like the mature lady sitting in
front of me who, during the precurtain music was
clapping and jumping in her seat in anticipation of
reliving of her youth, knew.  As the play went on she
sunk further and further into her chair.  At the
curtain call, when the kids in the audience rose
screaming to their feet, she sat clapping politely,
but unenthusiastically.  

Director Ray DeMattis has supposedly directed ‘GREASE’
on numerous tours.  Why he decided not to capture the
roots of the show which gave birth to such Fifties
craze productions as the classic ‘AMERICAN GRAFFITI’
film, and the top-rated ‘HAPPY DAYS’ television show,
is beyond understanding.  The film version of ‘GREASE’
which added some songs, but duplicated the clear
picture of the ‘50s, was the top money making musical
film ever, even surpassing ‘THE SOUND OF MUSIC’.  Why
did he decide to throw away that tradition?  Who
knows.

Before the show a group of high schoolers, who had
obviously just performed their version of the show
were in the Palace Theatre’s grand lobby.    There
they were with their duck-tailed haircuts and poofed
hair, dressed in what must have been their
production’s costumes, looking like and acting like
what they were expecting on stage.  "Who’s playing
me," the Danny Zuko-look alike asked?  Unfortunately,
no one really played the youth.  From what I saw and
heard in the lobby, I would have preferred seeing
their production.

Whatever, the quick in-and-out five performance
schedule for this the umpteenth touring production of
the show is now gone.  It’s publicized "hottest ride
in town" turned out to be a slide through a script and
music that was not given its due.


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