I heard Kris Kringle (played by Harley Venton) tell little Susan Walker (Leah Packer): “…Imagination is a place all by itself. Now, you’ve heard of the French nation? … And the British nation? … Well, this — is the Imagination!” And I believed it because he is the real Santa Claus!
Were it not for imagination, humanity would be a worrisome endeavor altogether. Fortunately, we are blessed in Montgomery County, Maryland with a rich community theater environment. Especially as the holiday season approaches, any opportunity to suspend reality and use our imagination is welcome relief.
If you hurry, you can witness Miracle on 34th Street as it was performed almost 70 years ago. Sandy Spring Theatre Group presents a reenactment of the live 1940’s era radio broadcast by Lux Radio Theater. Live sound effects (created by Bob Schwartz) and laundry detergent commercials add to the nostalgia as the staff of Macy’s Department Store wrestle with the true identity of their store Santa Claus.
Susan Walker’s mom, Doris Walker (ML George) hired a last minute stand in to replace their inebriated regular Macy’s Santa. But when the replacement says he actually is Kris Kringle i.e., Santa Claus, the confusion begins. Fred Gailey (John D.Van Eck) is a lawyer and friend of the Walkers who comes to defend Mr. Kringle after he is fired and sent to the psychopathic ward in Bellevue Hospital. Gailey intends to prove to Judge Harper (Ed Silverstein/producer) that “Mr. Kringle really is the Santa Claus.” This infuriates Mr. Mara (Ronald Araujo) the Assistant District Attorney who is prosecuting the case against Mr. Kringle.
The rest of the cast – Mara Bayewitz, Jim Kitterman, Susan Aaron Ostrinsky, Evelyn Renshaw, and Rowan Titus weave their way in and out of supporting roles with dizzying speed and enthusiasm. Scene changes are signaled by the creative lighting talents of Joe Connor as the cast waltzes between 3 authentic standing studio microphones and other creative set pieces by Jerry Callistein. All this action and drama take place under the direction of Bill Spitz who continues to delight audiences during his 30+ year career in community theater.
This production is a unique opportunity to show kids and grandkids a glimpse into early entertainment! But hurry – the show closes after Saturday’s performance!
Running Time: 67 minutes with no intermission.
Miracle on 34th Street performs only November 10th and 11th at Sandy Spring Theatre Group performing at the Arts Barn – 311 Kent Square Road, in Gaithersburg, MD. For tickets, call (301) 258-6394 or go online.
Now playing at the Kentland’s Arts Barn, Dial ‘M’ For Murder by the Sandy Spring Theatre Group has a lot to offer those who enjoy a mystery-thriller. First of all, it’s a really good play (that always helps) and then it is well presented with actors convincing in their roles.
The story is set in 1950’s London and I was glad to see that Director and Set Designer David Levin keeps the period feel without overdoing it. The subtle ‘noir’ background music by Nick Sampson supports this. The set itself is minimal but accurate to the time; the props (particularly one which must have been hard to find…you’ll know it when you see it) provided by Melissa Esposito, Ginger White & Evelyn Renshaw and the costumes by Laura Andruski blended right in and added authenticity. Master Carpenter Mark Ludder’s clever set work becomes apparent as the story progresses.
The story evolves around Tony & Margot Wendice (Ted Culler and Tracy Husted), their visitor Max Halliday (Mark Steimer), and Tony’s plot to kill Margot, mostly for her money but also possibly revenge for her previous affair with Max. There are plot twists galore but they flow naturally from the action and are not contrived.
There is a chemistry between Margot and Max, now ‘just friends’ that makes you sympathize with Tony when he enters the room and sees them together talking…you know he knows! Special mention to Tracy Husted. In addition to her incredible acting skills, she has a charming voice and nailed the British accent.
Tony’s scenes with Lesgate (Eric Henry), a man with whom he enters into a sinister partnership, give us insight into how devious Tony is and how desperate. He’s been planning his move for a long time. The reluctant Lesgate is pressured into agreeing to co-operate with Tony. Their scenes together showed a lot of tension and really moved the plot along.
The result of Tony’s planning isn’t what he expects and he has to constantly try to stay ahead of Chief Inspector Hubbard (Mark Shullenbarger) investigating the case. The Chief is a commanding presence and when he’s onstage dominates the action. This is not a policeman you would care to have investigate you! A little light relief is provided by Officer Thompson (Omar LaTiri) in a brief but memorable appearance.
There is not a lot of real fast moving action in this play, so the use of lighting (by Joe Connor), and off-stage sound (Omar LaTiri) is important as is the ability of the cast (and stage manager Jerry Callistein) to keep things moving and not become static. All did a great job and there really wasn’t a dull moment.
Opening night had a few (very few and very minor) glitches covered up well by the cast and crew but all in all nothing that detracted from the play. I did have a little trouble hearing Mark Steimer in the first act; his character is low-key but his voice was a little too low-key. However, his performance in the second act was spot-on.
If you are looking for an evening’s entertainment that holds your attention without showing you explicit violence and gives your brain a little workout, this is a jolly good show!
Running Time: Two hours and 20 minutes, including one 15-minute intermission.
Dial ‘M’ for Murder plays through July 23, 2017, at Sandy Spring Theatre Group performing at the Kentlands’ Arts Barn – 311 Kent Square Road, in Gaithersburg, MD. For tickets, call the box office at (301) 258-6394, or purchase them online.
Author Bio: Robin Lynch is a longtime Kentlands resident and has had a career as a professional kitchen designer. Now retired, she is active in animal rescue (saving kitties), and enjoys reading, watching old movies, and going to plays.
Just when you thought that scandalous political agendas were restricted to CNN’s 24-hour news cycle, along comes An American Daughter, Wendy Wasserstein’s 1997 play about a woman’s nomination as surgeon general and the threats her past play on her potential political appointment. In our current culture of alternative facts, fake news, and spin doctors, this Tony Award-winning play is back in fashion 20 years after its debut. Fortunately for us, Wendy Wasserstein’s witty repartee, unlike leg warmers and jumpsuits, never go out of style.
The show opens with Lyssa Dent Hughes (played with tight-wadded aplomb by Kiersten Harris) watching her own televised speech on TV. Immediately, I was impressed with Director Bruce Hirsch’s creative use of space. The stage at the Arts Barn is not suited for a bulky, 90s era television downstage; it would block sight lines in the first 2 rows. Hirsch made a simple adjustment, which had Harris holding a remote control while watching herself. This allows the audience to know exactly what Harris is doing without compromising his audience’s viewing pleasure. Sometimes, the simplest fix can solve a complexity of problems.
This production is like a fine wine: it gets better with age and has a sophisticated palate. The energy level is a bit low at the start of the show, as if the actors are feeling each other out. It’s when Lyssa and her oldest friend, Dr. Judith (not Judy, don’t even try it) B. Kaufman, an African American Jew who casts her sins out into the Potomac, start singing together on the couch that the familiarity and history come alive.
The cast of An American Daughter: Zack Walsh, Carole Preston, Alexis Amarante, Stuart Rick, Kiersten Harris, Michael Abendshein, Brandie Peterson, Bob Harbaum, and Tom Moore. Photo by Scott D’Vileskis.
With each passing scene, the comfort level and backstory become more rich and layered, resulting in many warm moments in which the audience gets caught up in memories as if they were appearing on a slide show behind the actors’ heads.
It’s harder than it looks to interestingly portray a character who’s deemed “boring” more than once in the show, but Harris does just that. Her inner tension is like a tightly wound ball of yarn that begins to unravel as characters come in and pull at her strings. Lyssa internalizes a lot of her feelings because she’s the good girl who stays contained and classy; she’s had a lot of practice with handshakes and smiles as a senator’s daughter. The audience can feel Harris trying to bury Lyssa’s inner voice, which is screaming at everyone to get their heads out of their keisters and leave her alone. She is classy, fierce, vulnerable, resigned, worried, caring, frigid and feisty.
The other characters bring their own schtick with them, encircling Lyssa in a ring of agendas. Notably, Michael Abendshein’s Morrow is everything that Lyssa isn’t: blunt, flamboyant, right wing, gay, and a “last word” kind of guy. His utter loneliness lies underneath the wit, barbs, and flippant attitude about hanging out with his best friend, and Abendshien does not try to evoke reactions. Kudos go to Hirsch for casting against type, because Abendshein makes it work and it enhances our interest.
Hirsch’s non-typecasting works well with Lyssa’s anti-establishment, agnostic Jewish husband, played with measured sincerity and repression by Bob Harbaum. His scene with Quincy Quince (portrayed by the fabulous Alexis Amarante) is ripe with sexual tension, confusion, and don’t forget, sexual tension. Amarante also crackles with Harris as she simultaneously shames and admires her.
Another standout is Stuart Rick as Senator Alan Hughes, a conservative lifer who never crosses the line in either direction. He supports and loves his daughter unconditionally yet does not share her liberal political views. Again, Rick succeeds at keeping his character supremely watchable without one outburst, moment of catharsis, or sudden revelation. His marriage to Charlotte “Chubby” Hughes, played by the hilarious and slight Carole Preston, lends some great tension breakers. When they sing a Dinah Shore song to punctuate a story, it is reminiscent of every head in the hands moment when your parents make you want to sink into the floor.
Brandie Peterson as Dr. Judith brings the audience an angry, brilliant, spiritual, and lonely woman who feels most at home with her oldest friend. Her characterization is grounded and likeable, and her tender relationship with Morrow has us wishing that the latter isn’t gay.
Zack Walsh arrives with prepubescent, sycophantic flair as PR whiz kid Billy Robbins, garnering laughs with his extra wink-winks and “I got ya covered” air gun. Billy walks in an exaggerated strut, as if he is trying to act like a spin doctor rather than be one, which nails this character and makes this virtual cameo most memorable.
Hirsch creates a wonderful climactic scene in which Timber Tucker (Tom Moore, who is most effective in his salacious, Bill O’Reilly interview scenes) interviews both Dr. Judith and Lyssa in the latter’s living room (beautifully constructed and accessorized by this talented production team). Members of the show’s crew come on stage as members of Tucker’s crew, with Walsh doubling as the young boom mic operator in a grungy wool hat. He joins lighting op Mark Shullenbarger and sound op Matthew Datcher as the two cameramen, with the three of them triangulating around the interview space.
Admittedly, this is not Wasserstein’s tightest script. She missed some connections and created some confusion in ways that, likely, could have been avoided.
Montgomery Playhouse, in partnership with the City of Gaithersburg’s Arts on the Green, brings An American Daughter successfully to the stage with a satisfying and dignified ending that would put CNN and other 24-hour news channels out of business. After all, as Timber Tucker would say, “Scandal is the nature of the business.”
Running Time: Two and a half hours, with a 15-minute intermission.
An American Daughter plays through May 28, 2017, at The Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green performing at The Gaithersburg Arts Barn – 311 Kent Square Road, in Gaithersburg, MD. For tickets, call the box office at (301) 258-6394, buy them at the door, or purchase them online.
LINK: Review #1: ‘An American Daughter’ at Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green by Mark Ludder.
Humanity can never quite manage to get out of its own way. And that’s a good thing for the entertainment industry. Since “there is nothing new under the sun,” there is constant material for every next production. Certainly playwright Wendy Wasserstein capitalizes on this reality with her offering of An American Daughter. Written in the late 1990’s following her critically acclaimed The Sisters Rosensweig, all those whispered or repressed imaginings of life’s challenges and confusions are brought to the surface like a rash which no ointment can ease.
The cast of An American Daughter: Zack Walsh, Carole Preston, Alexis Amarante, Stuart Rick, Kiersten Harris, Michael Abendshein, Brandie Peterson, Bob Harbaum, and Tom Moore. Photo by Scott D’Vileskis.
Regrettable hiccups in everyday life can create insurmountable stumbling blocks as Lyssa Dent Hughes played by Kiersten Harris discovers when she is nominated for US Surgeon General. Under the artificial scrutiny of press coverage Lyssa is demonized by political reporter Timber Tucker (Tom Moore) who highlights her failure to respond to a Jury Duty summons against her mid-western “ice box cakes” and perfect soccer-mom persona. The cast is packed with dubious sinner/saint personalities: Lyssa’s dad – long time US Senator Alan Hughes (Stuart Rick) supports his daughter’s passion and idealism in spite of his opposing political views while touting the blessings of his fourth wife Charlotte “Chubby” Hughes (Carole Preston).
Lyssa’s lecherous, foul-mouthed, self-aggrandizing husband and university professor Walter Abramson (Bob Harbaum) rests on the laurels of a 5-year-old book he wrote while ogling his prize student Quincy Quince (Alexis Amarante). Her life’s mission is to champion the struggle of every female with aspirations beyond domesticity even while undermining the sanctity of Lyssa’s marriage.
Walter’s best friend – Morrow McCarthy (Michael Abendshein) stands on his Gay Conservative imperialist soap box while throwing Lyssa under the bus by reminding reporter Tucker of her Jury Duty neglect. Lyssa’s best friend Judith B. Kaufman (Brandie Peterson) is so wrapped up as an infertile, divorced, Black Jewish female medical professional that she can hardly be supportive when it seems Lyssa’s appointment is in jeopardy. Lyssa at one point laments to her father: “You never told me there was a price.” Even the Senator’s spin doctor – Billy Robbins (Zach Walsh) is of no help with his exuberant wordsmithing on Lyssa’s behalf.
Scarce blanks left between the lines of the script are artfully filled on and off stage by Mark Shullenbarger, Andie Allison, Matthew Datcher, Elijah Fischer, Jack Husted, Susan Clic, and Roger Stone.
My take on all this is “Let any one of us who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.”
Beyond all the drama I must acknowledge the mastery of Director Bruce Hirsch who somehow managed to impart on his talented and energetic cast the ability to keep the pace moving forward, in spite of a storyline which hopped and skipped through life’s blemishes like a Labrador sighting a squirrel.
Stage Managers Evelyn Renshaw and Cathy Clark manipulated every element of the immaculate set designed by David Jones, and built with the help of Steve Deming, Mark Shullenbarger, and Joy Wyne. The image captured and presented, with intimate & detailed properties gathered by Nancy Davis, was truly that of a living room in a Georgetown townhome complete with the perceived view from an elevated window down to a street buzzing with media activity.
It seems life doesn’t come with instructions. But as Lyssa’s ancestor General Ulysses S. Grant wrote in a letter to his daughter “Our task is to rise & continue.”
Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission.
An American Daughter plays through May 28, 2017, at The Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green performing at The Gaithersburg Arts Barn – 311 Kent Square Road, in Gaithersburg, MD. For tickets, call the box office at (301) 258-6394, buy them at the door, or purchase them online.
LINK: Review #2: ‘An American Daughter’ at Montgomery Playhouse and Arts on the Green by Mara Bayewitz.
If you hurry, you can witness Miracle on 34th Street as it was performed almost 70 years ago. Sandy Spring Theatre Group presents a reenactment of the live 1940’s era radio broadcast by Lux Radio Theater. Live sound effects (created by Bob Schwartz) and laundry detergent commercials add to the nostalgia as the staff of Macy’s Department Store wrestle with the true identity of their store Santa Claus.
The story is set in 1950’s London and I was glad to see that Director and Set Designer David Levin keeps the period feel without overdoing it. The subtle ‘noir’ background music by Nick Sampson supports this. The set itself is minimal but accurate to the time; the props (particularly one which must have been hard to find…you’ll know it when you see it) provided by Melissa Esposito, Ginger White & Evelyn Renshaw and the costumes by Laura Andruski blended right in and added authenticity. Master Carpenter Mark Ludder’s clever set work becomes apparent as the story progresses.
