[NEohioPAL] Review for "Rumors" at Olde Towne Hall Theatre

Ken Milota kmilota66 at yahoo.com
Sun Oct 11 00:54:30 PDT 2009


 
If you're into going out on the weekend and would like to see a good community theatre comedy, then the show Rumors by Neil Simon at Olde Towne Hall Theatre in North Ridgeville is for you. Rumors was directed by Matt Solarz and produced by Lenny Putz. 
 
The show begins just after the deputy mayor of New York City shot himself through the earlobe. Each couple tries to hide the details of the attempted suicide by making up stories and rumors spread to each couple as they enter what was supposed to be the 10th anniversary party of Charlie and Myra Brock (un-seen characters).
 
The show debuted on Broadway in 1988, but the show itself isn't time period specific and the set, costumes, and props appeared to be modernized. The scenic design done by Bill Taylor and Joy VanKeuren was sensational and created a great illusion, one of the best I've ever seen.
 
The first guests were Chris and Ken Gorman. Joy VanKeuren who played Chris Gorman gave a great performance of a character who had a frequent problem with nervousness which was partly from having to quit smoking recently. Joy VanKeuren and Mike Raum (Ken Gorman) did a good job as a couple and played off of one another very well.
 
Claire Ganz was played by Ruth Wilson. I hadn't been able to find too much information about the individual characters of the show, but I gathered that Claire was brought up British and married and American, and Ruth Wilson did a good job maintaining the accent along with character personality of a proper British woman.
 
Nancy Wiess who played Cookie Cusack who was an over-worked cooking show host who showed a lot of fatigue and stress throughout the show, and Nancy Wiess was engaged into the role pretty well.
 
The most entertaining part of the show had to be the farcical narration by Lenny Cusack near the end of the show, and Vince DelCalzo did a fine job at playing that humorous role.
 
The show started out at a level of high energy and stayed pretty consistent throughout. There really wasn't a dull moment throughout the entire show, and the whole cast appeared to be immersed into the production and nobody lost character. The direction and blocking was done very well by Matt Solarz.
 
The only part of the show that I found disappointing was the curtain call. After the show when the cast members were taking their bows, the cast started clapping while the main characters had came on stage to take their bows. People have different opinions of this, but I believe when the cast members start clapping when the leads come out on stage to bow, they are hinting to me that I am supposed to give them extra props. I take nothing away from anyone in the cast, but I find that inappropriate when being an audience member. I am sure that nobody in the cast had intended disrespect, but that probably should have been ill-advised by director Matt Solarz.
 
All in all, the audience had consist ant laughter and enjoyed themselves. The audience had left the theatre with a satisfying performance and that is what you hope every show in the community will accomplish. Rumors will be playing at Olde Towne Hall Theatre through October 18th. Visit www.oldetownehalltheatre.com for more information.


Ken Milota
 
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