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Show I he Newspaper Thursday, June 18. 1981 PageBS The Shirt Off My Back mmm mi mm LAJ o f . - V. T1 O Tl iingL .Ji Players' latest production deserves "Applause" (but not too much) By Rick Brough The musical "Applause" is based on "All About Eve," that well-known story of backstage bitchery that pits battle-hardened but vulnerable vulner-able Broadway star Margo Channing against Eve Harrington, Harr-ington, a sweetly innocent child who conceals the cunning cun-ning of a snake. But the Park City Players' version of this catfight isn't exciting, because it seems too one-sided. Eve upstages Margo Channing so easily, one wonders why it takes her two-and-a-half hours to do it. Sometimes an actor is physically right for the part, but vocally miscast. Director Direc-tor Don Gomes apparently made this mistake with Janet Mann as Margo. Mann is excellent at moving in Margo's grand showhorse manner. Her first appearance appear-ance on stage is genuine magic. It almost seems as if you're seeing Lauren Bacall. (And if that seems imitative, what's wrong with that? The musical reportedly was written writ-ten for Bacall.) But the minute Mann opens her mouth, the spell vanishes. Her readings are too naive. The opening of the play shows Eve winning a Tony award, and Margo reminiscing about her first meeting with the woman who has supplanted her. Her thoughts (heard on tape) have none of the ironic, self-knowing overtones we expect, but instead a kind of "golly-gee" wonderment. Margo doesn't sound like a woman with well-developed wiles and defenses. So it's no great achievement when Eve fools her with her "ga-ga fan" act and becomes be-comes Margo's personal secretary. But as Margo becomes more restive under Eve's guardianship, Mann warms up to the bitchiness. She drops one gem when her director-boyfriend, Bill Sampson, wonders if she still TTpitwisa f , f : ' .. ' - V 1 0$ I ft Lonnie Pennington Hats off to Lonnie Pennington for being trivial enough to be the first person to correctly answer this week's Trivia Test. Because Lonnie spends about half his life in the swimming Dool at the athletic club, we're giving him a free submarine sandwich compliments of the Main Street Deli-Market Deli-Market as a prize for his incredible recall. Lonnie Lon-nie remembered that Peter Piper's peck equalled eight quarts of pickled peppers, that Buster Brown's doggie friend was Tige, and that Danny Vranes participated in the Parley's Park field day. You may not be able to swim like Lonnie, but you can win a lunch without getting your feet wet. Just be the first person to correctly answer this week's Trivia Test. Stop by The Newspaper at 419 Main Street or call 649-9014 by noon Tuesday. This week's questions are: 1. Who played Superman's two fathers in the 1978 movie? 2. What brand of cat food did Morris advertise? 3. How many times is Debby Symonds listed on local voter rolls? loves him. "I'll check with Eve," she says with perfect tartness. I don't want to make Mann look like the inflamed big toe that the production keeps stubbing. Her singing is generally strong, and the number "Hurry Back," a torchy expression of yearning yearn-ing for her man, is the show's musical highpoint. The best performance in the show, however, is Elizabeth Eliza-beth Nesi-Smith as Eve. Her Eve is a beaming youngster who signals her real intentions inten-tions by a rigid movement or a smile that suddenly turns cold. That adorable moist-eyed moist-eyed look isn't innocence. It's hunger. Eve is in full venom by the end of the play, but you can't really hate her. Nesi-Smith is a Vincent Price villainess she's almost likeable because be-cause she has more life to her than any of the other portrayals in the play. She's not a very comfortable comfort-able singer. In her song, "The Best Night of My Life," she's timid, a little breathless, breath-less, and hesitant but that's what Eve is pretending to be, so the number works. Later in the show, she rivets you to your seat with a dynamic song-and-dance number that shows Eve in a "screw-the-world" mood of triumph. It is practically the only time Nesi-Smith, a former professional profes-sional dancer, is allowed to dance (with coaching, I presume, from choreographer choreo-grapher Susan Jarman) . Jarman has the unenviable unenvi-able task of staging the dated musical numbers, full of contrapuntal lyrics and be-boppy, be-boppy, over-cute lyrics. The cast is conscientiously bouncy, even if they're not sizzling. The formula works, except in a gay disco dance number that lacks the especially es-pecially spontaneous energy it needs. (By the way, why is it that Bacall musicals always seem to have a Teit number where the leading lady, surrounded by a male chorus, preens herself on what a great gal she is? Even her movie "The Fan" threw in one of these self-stroking extravaganzas.) extrava-ganzas.) Two performers stand out in the musical numbers. Jackie Craigle, a performer of considerable verve and wit, gives an excellent introduction intro-duction to the title song. And Geneo Pirraglio oomphs his dancing with some pelvic moves that probably were illegal until the Supreme Court decisions of a few weeks ago. "Applause" is a theater story within a theater, and director Don Gomes has kept himself alert to devices that will play upon that format. Characters sometimes enter the scene from the Silver Wheel's front-row audience seats, or amble down the aisle amidst the audience. One especially witty touch uses Gomes and his musicians, musi-cians, who are located in a pit to stage right. During a party scene at Margo's house, they double as her band; when a guest sends them "into the kitchen for drinks," Gomes and Company Com-pany parade out of the theater! The direction sometimes fumbles by sticking the action in odd corners. Margo's Mar-go's dressing room, where much of the drama plays, is stuck over to the extreme left of the stage, and the acoustics aren't always the best from that area. And in Margo's party scene, most of the guests are unaccountably unaccount-ably jammed into a small upstage area. Finally, there's a small bit Utah Opera Comp coming to Shadow The Shadow Ridge Hotel and the Utah Opera Company Com-pany will present an evening of dining and dancing on Friday, June 26th at the Shadow Ridge Hotel and Convention Center in Park City. "Meet Us in the Shadow" will begin with OPERATED BY HOLY CROSS PARK P.O. BOX 1900 PARK CITY, UTAH 84060 HOSPITAL I wish Gomes could improve in some way. In an early scene, Margo catches Eve daydreaming in her dressing room, and the girl, startled by Margo, drops the goody-two-shoes facade for a split second. Eve's reaction is almost lost to the audience because she turns almost directly upstage. It makes sense that's where Margo is standing but we lose our first chance to see Eve's viciousness exposed. Bob Toy, as the dependable depend-able lover Bill Sampson, is the quintessential man of common sense. But he doesn't show Bill's growing exasperation and anger at Margo's obsession with age. His singing is not very enthusiastic, except for a very funny passage where he musically hails Margo's ranting as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Dick Cummings is a lumpish, funny figure as Margo's neurotic house playwright, play-wright, Buzz Richards. Jerry Frkovich as her fey hairdresser, Duane, has a lot of wise-acre punchlines, but doesn't always say them clearly. Frkovich's comic rapport with the audience is enough to get laughs. If he took time to relish his delivery, though, he could walk away with the show in his make-up kit. Some of the major characters charac-ters in the play are tossed in half-heartedly. Buzz's wife, Karen, appears in the early scenes (with Valerie Thur-nell Thur-nell using a bit too much of a la-de-da accent), and fades into the background m the middle portions of the, story. She appears toward the end of the play with a case of the comic guilts for helping Eve cocktails at 7 p m. followed by a buffet at 8 p.m., and at 9-00 the entertainment and dancing will begin. Residents and businessmen busi-nessmen of Park City are invited to enjoy good food, music and company in CITY HEALTH CENTER THE PARK CITY HEALTH CENTER IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE TWO APPOINTMENTS THOMAS L. SCHWENK, M.D. Has been appointed Director of Family Practice Residency Training at Holy Cross Hospital His Park City Office Hours will be limited to Tuesdays and Thursdays, by appointment. ROBERT W. BARNETT, Is joining the Park City Health Center in Family Medicine Effective July 1,1981. ROBERT J. EVERS, M.D. and ROBERT T. WINN, M.D. Continue in the full-time practice of Family Medicine and Pediatrics PARK CITY HEALTH CENTER Office appointments and 24-hour emergency care 649-7640 Operated by Holy Cross Hospital replace Margo. Thurnell is quite funny in these scenes indeed, her whiskey-soured voice suggests she would have made a good Margo. Some of you may remember remem-ber Addison DeWitt, the promiscuous gossip columnist colum-nist from the movie "All About Eve." Here, he's been split into two mediocre characters. First, Howard Benedict, an exasperated producer who suddenly becomes be-comes a venal womanizer in his last scene. Ralph Carlson lacks his usual effectiveness in the part because, understandably, under-standably, he can't get a handle on the character. The theater critic is now called Stan Harding, played by Richard Scott, and he's a crude character who seems to have gotten lost on his way to the sports desk. Given little to work with, Scott plays the part with his cigar and a pair of glasses. Dick Mitchell, Gary Allen, and Glenn Artist are be-lievably be-lievably hapless as male characters who trail in the wake of either Margo or Eve. The high-stepping ensemble includes Adria Bolding, Fred Hightower, Gary Allen, Connie Con-nie Jean Boyle, Wenda Miller, Mark Blase, Ruth Ann K. Fitzgerald, Cindy Neilson, Carole Tatomer, Robin Elaine Westphal, Scott Pirraglio, and Colyn Adamson. Terry Coolidge has worked out an efficient set design. The musical ensemble (John Craigle, Skip Sheya, Lynn Roeder, Ren Anderton) is an improvement over the orchestra or-chestra used for "Camelot," although the musicians seemed to encounter an unfortunate number of flat notes. any Ridge a casual and comfortable atmosphere. For reservations and tickets, please contact Cynthia Cyn-thia at 534-0842. Proceeds to benefit the Utah Opera Company. Meet us in the Shadow. M.D. the practice of i r mm Park City Aspen Snowmasi 649-4054 405 Main Street Hour: 11:30-6 HOLIDAY VILLAGE MALL, PARK CITY, UT - 649 6541 SUPERMAN II STARTS WED. JULY 1ST :: : f poo r7? n mwd P ffl S S-S Mi 1:00, 3:05, 5:10 1 m IS. xr CtfillB Mon.-Fri. I :i n vrs 7:30,9:45 E 'y HARRISON FORD pGf Sat. Sun. 1:30, 3:30, 5:30 7:30,9:30 Mon.-Fri. 7:30, 9:30 FREE "Lotto" Racquetball Shoes on Sale! ! I Reg. $31.50 only $25!! Friday & Saturday 1 All designs are hand silk-screened Styles for the entire family 0 Spend it with a local 20 off Thursday thru Sunday ECONOMY NIGHT MONDAY EVENING yssyssX: Starts Fri. the 19th Sat. Sun. 1:15, 3:15, 5:15 7:15, 9:15 Mon.-Fri. 7:15, 9:15 RINGO STARR BARBARA BACH Prospector Athletic Club 649-6670 RACQUETBALL COURT TIME Fri. (619) & Sat. (620) 7 a.m. 3 p.m. Must call for reservations 649-6670. Club entry fee only $3. SATURDAY SPLASH , (Sat. Only 620) FREESWIM1-4p.m. (No lockers or towels provided) Y1 ST ) $ooo ::::::::::::::: SYLVESTER STALLONE NIGHT j |