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Show JL far f) Parry Stewart (right) as Leonid Andreyevich Gayer tries to comfort Valeen Ogzewalla who plays Lobov Andreyevna Ranevskaya during the SUSC production of "The Cherry Orchard." The play will run through Saturday at the SUSC auditorium. 'The Cherry Orchard9 SU play a success By BRUCE LEE Record Assoc. Editor How can I write a critique of such a classic play as Anton Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard"? And, even more, how can I write one when the production was as professional and enchanting en-chanting as the Southern Utah State College production Friday night? Certainly I can't criticize. So today I won't. Today, I will praise only. It was rewarding to see some of the fine actors and actresses at the college play some larger and more intriguing roles than some of those they have played in the past. "The Cherry Orchard" gave them a chance to really show their merit and they did. It was literally exciting to see such familiar faces as, Valeen,, Ogzewalla, Parry ; Stewart, , Marc Deaton and Byron Paul Brown take larger and more serious parts than I have seen them take in the past. Al ter seeing Ogzewalla perform the humorous role of Bertha in the recent production of "Pippin," it was a pleasure to see her tackle the complex role of Lobov Andreyevna Ranevskaya. Ranev-skaya. Mme. Ranevskaya is the wealthy landowner who is stifled throughout the play by her inability to act, an inability that eventually forces her, heart-broken and poor, off her land and out of her beloved house. Another familiar face from "Pippin" was Parry Stewart, this time playing the role of Leonid Andreyevich Gayev, Mme. Ranevskaya's brother. In this production, Stewart again draws laughter, but it isn't the side-shaking laughter of "Pippin." Instead, it is quiet, hesitant laughter, as the audience was nervous about laughing at such an apparently inept character. But Stewart, along with others, kept the delicate balance of the play, which could have easily teetered on the edge of boredom, intact, and the audience listening and watching carefully. An excellent example of this is the interchange between him and Yer-maloy Yer-maloy Alexeyevich Lopahin, played by Rick Dominquez. "Time flies," said Lopahin. "What did you say?" replied Gayev. "Time flies," he repeated. Then there was more of the nervous silence and inaction as time did, indeed, fly by them. Others I have seen on the SUSC stage before and which I now saw making complex parts look easy included Marc Deaton as Pyotr Sergeyevich Trofimov, Byron Paul Brown as Simeonov-Pischik; Marie Del Marco as Charlotta Ivanovna and David B. Howard as Yasha. All deserve more praise than I have room here to give them. There were also some actors and actresses which graced the stage last week that I had never seen perform before, and the delight was just as great as it was with those I was more familiar with. Chief among them was Rick Dominquez, who played the merchant, Lopahin. Lopahin, in many ways, is the most complex of all the characters of "The Cherry Orchard." He represents everything of the new aristocracy the practical, prac-tical, the quick-thinking, the acting. Yet, in the end, even he cannot act. He cannot ever quite get around to proposing to Varya, something that should have been done years earlier. But the play ends with them going separate ways. The interplay, many times silent, between Dominquez and Jan Frasier, who plays Varya, was not only captivating, but subtle. The two attributes, I know, are sometimes opposites, paradoxical. But not in this case, not when performers like Dominquez and Frazier command the stage. I earlier this year had commended Frazier on her direction of "Vanities," but now I see she is as good an actress as a director. My only regret is that I have not lived in the area long enough to have seen some of her many earlier performances at SUSC. Also deserving of kudos are Suzanne LeClair, who played Anya, and Greg D. Child, as Firs. And I certainly can't forget the director of the play, R. Scott Phillips. If Phillips is not a perfectionist, which I believe he is on the stage, he certainly outdid himself this time. Everything in the production added to the hollow feeling that Chekov certainly put into the writng of the play. The sets were exquisite, opulent. He and Timothy Paul Brysony . scenic, designer.-. ' technical director iboth deserve credit. The costumes were the same: they showed the apparent wealth of the characters, but also emphasized the irony that they were losing everything they had because of their inaction. But enough. I'm rambling. There is not room, nor time, to congratulate everybody. Instead, the thing to do is mention that the play will run through Saturday at the SUSC auditorium. It is deserving of standing room only every night. |