[NEohioPAL] Two More Great Reviews of GUYS ON ICE at Actors' Summit

[Neil Thackaberry]

‘Guys on Ice’ isn’t typical fishing-hole drama

*By David Ritchey*
*Actors’ Summit show features fine acting*

HUDSON — “Guys on Ice” isn’t a production of the ice follies with an all
male cast.

Now playing at Actors’ Summit Theater through Dec. 30, “Guys on Ice” is
about three guys who ice fish on a lake near Sturgeon Bay, Wis. This show is
a crowd-pleaser. I’ve not seen that many people smile and laugh since I saw
“The Producers.” “Guys on Ice” quickly reminds one of TV shows like
“Hee-Haw,” “Green Acres” and, perhaps, “The Lawrence Welk Show.” The jokes
and stories are “down home” and corny.

The plot deals with good buddies Lloyd (Frank Jackman) and Marvin (Dana
Hart). They seem to share everything. Marvin has made contact with a sports
reporter, who plans to do a TV story about ice fishing. The reporter is
intrigued with Marvin and the little wooden hut he has as his home on the
ice. Marvin invites his best buddy Lloyd to join him in the hut and,
perhaps, on the TV show. They fish, tell corny jokes, sing a few songs and
deal with Ernie (Shawn Galligan), a well-known moocher.

Lloyd is married and has marital problems. His wife has left him and moved
in with her parents. The problem is Lloyd’s wedding anniversary is the same
day as the next game of the Green Bay Packers, for which he has two tickets.
What’s the problem? He and his wife will have another anniversary next year.

Marvin is in lust or like with a woman at a local store. She has a tattoo in
a spot that Marvin is anxious to see. If he could just get a couple of
tickets for the Packers game, he might move this romance along.

The show was written by James Kaplan (music) and Fred Alley (book and
lyrics). Kaplan’s music is not memorable, and Alley’s lyrics are, for the
most part, tied to ice fishing in Wisconsin. The songs include “De Guy from
Tee Vee,” which is a love song to the TV reporter who might do a story about
Marvin’s ice fishing hut. “De Snowmobile Suit” focuses on the snowsuits the
men wear when ice fishing.

The most interesting song was Marvin’s singing of “De Ice Fishing King.”
This is a gentle take off Elvis Presley (imagine a snowsuit-clad Elvis
Presley ice fishing and singing).

Ernie, the moocher, does “The Guys on Ice Half Time Show.” Ernie asks the
audience questions, and the first person to raise his or her hand and yell
out “OK” will be called on to answer the question. The prizes include a dill
pickle, a piece of beef jerky and a bottle of beer. (You understand what I
meant when I wrote this was a down-home evening in the theater.)

The performers play these roles well. Hart has long been a favorite at
Actors’ Summit. He helps rescue the script by making the jokes almost fresh.

Jackman sings well and brings his good-ole-boy style to this production.

Galligan hones an over-the-top energy in the Ernie role.

Director MaryJo Alexander keeps the action moving at a rapid pace. She also
was responsible for the appropriate costumes. She had an advantage with
these costumes, as the temperature in Summit County plunged so low that
audience members were willing to be costumed in snowsuits, too.

Neil Thackaberry (set and lighting) created a hut-on-the-ice that opened to
reveal the inside of the hut and fill the playing area of the Summit
Theater.

For tickets, call (330) 342-0800.

*David Ritchey has a Ph.D. in communications and is a professor of
communications at The University of Akron. He is a member of the American
Theatre Critics Association.*




Review of *Guys On Ice *at Actors Summit in Hudson

for WJCU-FM (88.7 FM) & wjcu.org.

Written and recorded for airplay by Fred Dolan



     Neil Thackaberry of Actors’ Summit in nearby Hudson has a real knack
for finding entertaining scripts that I have never heard of like last
season’s *Big Boys *and *Don’t Hug Me.* Well, this year he may have outdone
himself with *Guys On Ice, The Ice Fishing Musical,* where Marvin & Lloyd
spend a day out on the ice in a shanty in upper Wisconsin on a typical below
zero day, waiting for a local fishing show host to interview them for his TV
show and make Marvin a local celebrity.

     Like Vladimir and Estragon, caught in an ice-bound version of *Waiting
For Godot*, Marvin & Lloyd entertain themselves while they are waiting with
corny jokes, personal reflections, their problems and ambitions, and plenty
of entertaining songs about fish & fishing, life out on the ice, their
snowmobile suits, and drinking beer.

     Marvin wants to be a TV star so he can impress Bonnie, a cashier at the
local Pick-N-Save, so she’ll go out with him.

     Lloyd has his own problems. His wife just moved out because Lloyd wants
to spend their upcoming wedding anniversary at the next Packers’ game.

     As Marvin and Lloyd, Dana Hart & Frank Jackman are very entertaining
portraying these simple souls in rural Wisconsin who love nothing more than
being out on the ice with a bucket of Leininkugel beer, talking about the
Packers. Both of them also have very good voices for the musical numbers and
totally embrace the off-beat wackiness of the show. In addition, Shawn
Galligan is properly annoying as Ernie the Moocher, an unwelcome guest at
the ice shanty.

     *Guys On Ice* is not your typical holiday show, but who cares. It’s a
very entertaining comic evening at the theater with terrific performances,
witty songs, and lots of “you betcha” dialect laughs.

*     Guy On Ice* runs thru December 30 at Actors’ Summit in beautiful
Hudson. For more information visit actorssummit.org.

     Happy Holidays at the theater.
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