[NEohioPAL] Final 4 Performances of Critically Acclaimed ARE WE THERE YET? at Actors' Summit - More Great Reviews

[Neil Thackaberry]

*Actors’ Summit opens season on a featherweight note*



Published: Friday, October 9, 2009 1:10 AM EDT

Reviewed by FRAN HELLER
Contributing Writer

“You can choose your friends, but not your family,” as the saying goes.

This and other well-worn bons mots comprise the featherweight musical revue
“Are We There Yet?” a song, skit and dance routine about parents and
children and the journey they take called life. It’s at Actors’ Summit
through Oct. 18.

Created by James Hindman, Ray Roderick and Cheryl Stern with music by John
Glaudini, the material is uneven, with some sketches clearly funnier or more
touching than others. The same goes for the quartet of actors under A. Neil
Thackaberry’s direction in a less-than-polished production opening night.
They are Shani Ferry, Shawn Galligan, Dawn Sniadak and Keith E. Stevens.

The show opens with a family of four (mother, father, sister, brother) on a
road trip. Using swivel chairs to simulate a moving car is a clever touch.
The title derives from the universal lament of children impatient to reach
their destination.



What follows is a collection of musical numbers and sketches addressing such
family milestones as pregnancy, birth, growing up, Little League, the prom,
marriage, Super-Mom, money, divorce, old age and death.

In the first scene, a very pregnant woman and her husband try to enroll
their as-yet-unborn baby into the best school during a prenatal interview.
In the next, Galligan, swaddled in baby clothes, raps about the perils and
pitfalls of being a newborn.

Ferry and Sniadak play a pair of contrasting Little League moms in “Batting
Zero.” The diminutive Ferry is very funny as she mouths off at the unseen
umpire and later as a chain-smoking grandma with a walker forced to babysit
her working daughter’s children.

Sniadak portrays a mother with empty nest syndrome who lavishes all her
attention and money on a real-life terrier named Bailey, performed by an
extremely well-behaved dog.

Stevens, the only Equity actor in the foursome, is always a joy to watch.
Clutching a boxed corsage like a security blanket in “Dad’s First Prom,” he
nervously awaits his date while being interrogated by the father (Galligan),
who convinces the boy that he has placed a microchip in his body to follow
his every move.

One of the funniest numbers is “Bernie’s Buffet!” in which Stevens, as an
elderly widower, describes the joys of women and sex in later life.

Sporting green T-shirts with big dollar signs (MaryJo Alexander’s costumes
are always a treat), the company performs “Cha-Ching,” a paean to our
material culture and every kid’s God-given right to a pilgrimage to Orlando.

Conventional wisdom erupts between the laugh lines. “Your Parents Push Your
Buttons” shows how quickly adult children revert to childhood whenever
parents get on their case.

On the more serious side, Galligan movingly portrays a man who fears he has
inherited his mother’s Alzheimer’s gene, while Sniadak plays a new
grandmother whose gay son and partner have just adopted a little girl from
Russia and named the child after her.

The music, with Evie Morris at the piano and percussionist Kirk Puterbaugh,
remains undistinguished. Sasha Thackaberry keeps the choreography simple for
actors who are non-dancers, and it works.

“Are We There Yet?” feels like a work in progress. As for the message – life
is a journey, so enjoy the ride – though we’ve heard it before, it doesn’t
hurt to be reminded in such a sugary way.

WHAT:   “Are We There Yet?”

WHERE: Actors’ Summit, 86 Owen Brown St., Hudson

WHEN:  Through Oct. 18

TICKETS & INFO: 330-342-0800 or www.actorssummit.org


*Review *

*Musical is a fun ride *

*Serious messages take back seat in Actors' Summit's 'Are We There Yet?' *

By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009

The little musical revue *Are We There Yet? *is light and at times trite.
But the Actors' Summit cast also skillfully creates some touching moments
and adds a healthy dose of humor for the Hudson theater's season opener.

Directed by Neil Thackaberry, the show explores the many stages of family
life. Its lyrics remind us over and over again that it's not just about
getting there, it's about the journey.

Some numbers capture the quirky emotional blackmail of family all too well,
such as the company number *Your Parents Push Your Buttons* *'Cause They Put
'em There* with its cute vaudeville-style choreography by Sasha Thackaberry.

The staging is purposely cheesy with the four-member cast in top hats, but
we go along with it willingly.

Elsewhere, the lyrics' cheese factor is too much: The final *Enjoy the Ride
*refers* *to family being called a clan, network or tribe: ''Whatever you
call it, you need one,'' the actors croon.

Not so original.

Other songs and vignettes are delightful, including Dawn Sniadak's campy,
vampy *'Cause I'm a Mommy*, an ode to multitasking; and the tiny,
youthful-looking Shani Ferry's wacky transformation into a
cigarette-smoking, fanny pack-wearing grandma who kibbitzes about
baby-sitting her grandkids.

Shawn Galligan is truly surprising doing an outrageous baby rap and Keith
Stevens tickles the funny bone as a senior citizen widower who's dating
again in *Bernie's Buffet*.

''It's a smorgasbord and I'm the catch of the day,'' he sings, doing an old
geezer dance.

Many of the show's melodies themselves aren't so memorable, but the
versatile acting by this four-person ensemble is.

That includes a somber look at Alzheimer's, a vignette about a son's
nontraditional family, and another about an adopted daughter and birth
mother and their search for each other. These are the moments we'll
remember.

James Hindman, one of the show's creators, may be familiar to Northeast Ohio
audiences who saw his musicals *Pete 'n' Keely* and *Coming to America *at
the now-defunct Kalliope Stage in Cleveland Heights. His *Are We There
Yet?*isn't going to change the world. But if you want some mostly
fluffy fun,
this may be your ticket.

*Details:*

*Musical:* *Are We There Yet?*

*When:* Continuing through Oct. 18 - 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m.
Sundays

*Where: *Actors' Summit, 86 Owen Brown St., Hudson

*Tickets:* $26-$29; seniors citizens $23-$26 Thursdays and Sundays; students
$7

*Information: *330-342-0800 or www.actorssummit.org


 ------------------------------

Theater critic Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or
kclawson at thebeaconjournal.com.


-- 
Neil Thackaberry
Co-artistic Director
Actors' Summit, a professional theater
Hudson Ohio
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