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Show xHeaven Can Waif is perfect' enjoyment We are introduced early to a number of heavenly newcomers, the most surprised of which is Pendleton, who is mistakenly presumed dead by Escort 7013, a "rookie" angel portrayed by James Henderson. Once Pendleton explains ex-plains that his "death" really was a mistake, Mr. Jordan and his com-padre com-padre work on finding an Earthly body to which Pendleton's spirit can return. Enter Mrs. Famsworth, a sultry vixen played magnificantly by beautiful Robin-Michelle Stepp who has secretly plotted the murder of her millionaire husband, with the assistance of his secretary Tony Abbott. Abbott's character is depicted excellently by Gary Stuart Insch, who, along with Johnson and fellow cast member Mary Hosford, was seen by Davis County audiences au-diences last year in "The Importance Impor-tance of Being Ernest' at Woods Cross High. Together, Stepp and Insch combine to form the perfect bumbling would-be murderers. This play, however, belongs to the four leads, Johnson as Levene, David A. Nieman as Pendleton, Oscar Rowland as Mr. Jordan, and Leslie C. Barney as Bette Logan, who becomes Pendleton's love interest in-terest as the drama at the Famsworth Fams-worth mansion unfolds. Johnson is strong as usual, playing play-ing the crusty trainer who tries his best to understand how his boxing protege has now reappeared in the I ' s - - ....... - ''4 . - - 9, f MdWMm lining ' ' - . ; r t :i...v b By TOM HARALDSEN Editor's Note: From time to time, Davis County residents par-1 par-1 ticipate in theater productions in Salt Lake City. Thus is the case with Hale Center Theater's production pro-duction of 'Heaven Can Wait," reviewed here by staff writer Tom Haraldsen. Hale Center Theater's production of "Heaven Can Wait" will make audiences quickly forget about that semi-humorous Warren Beatty movie of several years ago. In this production, the laughs are frequent and hearty. And the Hales have struck gold again with another fine family-style production. As is tradition at Hale Center, this show is double-cast, with the Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday night cast featuring well-known local actor Gordon Johnson as Max Levene, trainer of boxer Joe Pendleton, who is mistakenly called to heaven before his time and fights tooth-and-nail with heavenly gatekeeper Mr. Jordan to return to Earth and fulfill his boxing promise. prom-ise. The story of Pendleton's reappearance reap-pearance in life in the Earthly body of millionaire Famsworth is charming, charm-ing, heartwarming and a lot of fun. Directors John and Tamara Adams have done a fine job with the Hale ensemble, which seemingly gets stronger with each production at the Salt Lake City playhouse, located at 2801 South Main Street. body of a playboy millionaire. When Nieman, whose performance is as strong as any this writer's seen this year, is speaking to Mr. Jordan (whom only he can see), Johnson's reactions are very believable. Nieman has perhaps the most difficult part of any actor, moving constantly on stage while lifting weights, doing exercises and hitting a punching bag and still delivering his lines. Miss Barney is a newcomer to Salt Lake City, and what a beautiful, beau-tiful, talented young actress she is. The audience can feel and sense her innocence, and empathize with her predicament Certainly, local audiences au-diences will be seeing a lot more of Miss Barney's talent in the years ahead. Rowland is also marvelous as Jordan, sort of the stabilizing influence in-fluence among a cas! of characters that include zany cops, wacky maids and truly "heavenly" travel agents in Dee Ann Blair and Julie Watson. The cast also includes marvelous performances by E. Linda Lin-da Moore and Horsford as housekeepers, as well as creditable performances by Scott Wood-m Wood-m an see as a trainer, cop and medic; Mike Johnson as a police inspector, and Ron Johnson as "Lefty. "Heaven Can Wait" plays Monday Mon-day through Saturday at 8 p.m. through September 24, and though 'heaven can wait, you shouldn't wait to see it. The Hale Center Theater accepts reservations at 484-9257. Hale Center Theater is performing "Heaven Can Wait" through Sept. 24. Gordon A. Johnson, of Davis County, will play Max Levine, Joe's flight manager. He is pictured at the far left with David A. Nieman, who will play Joe. At the far right is Oscar Rowland who plays Mr. Jordan. |