Center Stage: Broadway Palm, Florida Rep offer shows worth seeing
Boy, oh boy! What a treat it is to be back home on sunny warm Sanibel after a long, dreary, wet and cold summer in the Berkshires in Massachusetts, where almost every theater event was held outdoors and was rained out. But onward and upward. I am home now, where theater in our part of the world is not only indoors again, it is also safe with Covid precautions in place and regulated.
My first theater event of the season was an excellent production of “Sound of Music” at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Fort Myers. Just think when “Sound of Music opened” on Broadway in 1959, tickets to the “blockbuster” were $9.90 — not even rounded off to $10. The show played 1,493 performances on Broadway before going on a national tour across America. Although the show’s success and longevity is mostly due to its “blockbuster” status as a movie.
The Broadway show got rather interesting reviews: three “rave” reviews, three “favorable” reviews, and one “unfavorable” review, written by the “Old Grinch” of theater reviewers Walter Kerr in the Herald Tribune newspaper. (Any performer will tell you; this critic was one of the hardest to please.)
Well, let me tell you, we might even get the “Old Grinch” to write a glowing review for this latest production of “Sound of Music” playing at the Broadway Palm until Nov. 20.
Thanks to the prodigious talents of Director and Choreographer Amy Marie McCleary, the Broadway Palm has a smash hit. The talented McCleary has a history with this show. She played the role of one of the children (Brigitta) when she was 9 years old. As a matter of fact, her daughter Grainne McCleary is currently playing the role of Marta von Trapp. To complete the family contribution to the show, Chris McCleary contributes his talents in the all important role of sound designer for “Sound of Music.”
The marvelous cast does an outstanding job making the Broadway movie-musical come to life in such a way that everything about this show seems fresh and new, giving the audience a much needed lift. While it is an outstanding production, a great deal of credit is due to the skillful, casting, staging, choreography and direction from the multi-talented McCleary and the show’s leading performers and ensemble players. They all are, in a word, “outstanding.” The leading roles were played to perfection by: Melissa Wentworth as Maria, Ariana Valdes as Mother Abbess, Andrew Fehrenbacher as Captain Georg von Trapp, Paul Bernier as Max Detweiler, Amy Fenicle as Liesl, Tim Canali as Rolf and, of course, the talented von Trapp children played by Gabe Cruz, Macy Magas, Caisson Dobson, Sarah Salerno, Grainne McCleary and Adriana Gamero. These young performers are not only winsome, they are also multi-talented.
So get yourselves ready to “get yourselves up, dust yourselves off, and have a fun evening out on the town” by attending this delightful musical. Start by phoning the box office at 239-278-4422. (This show is bound to sell out fast, it is that enjoyable.) When you phone, remind ’em Marsha sent you.
The next show I attended was at the Florida Repertory Theatre in Fort Myers. This was appropriate for Halloween, a spine-tingler ghost story that is spooking audiences until Nov. 14 and is titled “The Woman In Black.” Penned by Stephen Mallatratt, the eerie play is based on Susan Hill’s novel of the same name and has been terrifying audiences for some 34 years. The play first opened in Scarborough England in 1987 and soon moved to London’s West End Theater district, where it played successfully to “sold out houses.” It has been lauded as an “extraordinarily, clever and brilliant play,” and I want to tell you, I totally agree with that statement.
Set in an empty theater, lawyer Arthur Kipps (played to perfection by David Darrow) is obsessed with a curse that he believes has been cast over him and his family by the specter of a “Woman In Black.” Kipps engages a skeptical actor (played by V Craig Heidenreich, an accomplished Florida Rep actor) to help him tell his terrifying story and rid him of the fear that grips his soul. It all begins innocently enough but then this play descends into darkness as Kipps digs deeper into his memories. The two men delve into darker and darker recollections. We are told of eerie marshland scenes, with grey skies and moaning winds (think scary movies, TV shows and radio plays that we all know and love).
Most of us are still the little kids that enjoy having the wits scared out of us. This is what I would call “a deep, dark journey into fear.” Director Steve Pacek and the two fine actors do their best and succeed in this shadowy voyage into fear. My only quibble with this fine production was the sound system; I had a rather difficult time understanding the complex dialogue. I always do better getting scared out of my wits when I can hear the words. But nevertheless, “Woman In Black” is very worthwhile to see.
I hasten to add that the production is only being performed until Nov. 14, then “West Side Story” will take the stage. It will open on Nov. 23 and play till Dec. 15. This show always sells out fast and my advice is order your seats as soon as possible. The box office to call is 239-332-4488. Just remind ’em, Marsha sent you!