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Show actors view these very qualities qual-ities as favorable, and thus gie the play a fervor and life that keeps the melodramatic melo-dramatic form alive, rather rath-er than banishing it to a shelf labeled archaic and unplayable. un-playable. If you want an evening of entertainment sans grotesque gro-tesque violence, sex and depressing de-pressing actions, you want to view the melodrama. In a time when many mourn the loss of family entertainment, the melodrama fills that gap not only adequately, but with fervor. The Opera House offers every family and individual an evening of sheer escapism escap-ism to be enjoyed with gusto. Where else can you cheer the hero, "boo the villian, and "AH" over the heroine? Where else can you leave feeling just plain good? In hard times like these, there are few places that fit that bill. But that spirit is alive and well and running performances per-formances every Friday and Saturday night at the Opera House. Perhaps you should take advantage of it. You have little to lose, and so much entertainment to gain. So what's the risk? Go ahead, sit back, suspend your disbelief, dis-belief, and enjoy. You might not have that chance again for a long time. ities that they could never be real people. So it is impossible im-possible to present them as clear cut people of the flesh. They are cardboard cutouts cut-outs provided to tell a moral tale through entertainment. If this sounds rather heavy, it isn't. Melodrama originally was taken pretty seriously, but even so, it was mass entertainment, In a world without television, theatre was the masses' means of escapism. In fact, the melodrama is the forerunner fore-runner of the popular American Amer-ican musical comedy, offering offer-ing light moments through its oleo. The oleo was used much like a front curtain number is used in musicals to entertain the audience while the set is changed. However, oleos were also used to give relief from the suspense involved in the play, much like Shakespeare used scenes of comic relief. The Silver Wheel players have kept true to form, using us-ing the oleo in its proper place, but also using it to involve in-volve the audience in sing-a-longs. For those few that laugh during the oleo with some discomfort, there are many who enjoy singing old songs full of memories. After all, the melodrama is meant for full family entertainment, en-tertainment, somewhere in that mpan hptwoon QHiilt musical comedy and children's chil-dren's theatre. BY FAIR MEANS OR FOUL is a melodrama true to form. It involves all the stock characters including the villian, the heroine (a sweet innocent), andthehero (who is just as " innocent). Money is always the villian's driving force, causinghimto commit crimes to gain personal per-sonal wealth. The heroine and hero, of course, are the romantic ideal, country bred with little culture and wealth, but material values are of little import to such pure people. They have the wealth of integrity and honesty. And this is their very strength and weakness against the dastardly illian who plays against their goodness. The players fall somewhere some-where between a realistic style and a camp, overacted style. Instead, they have chosen to play the parts with almost the same seriousness offered by the actors who played melodrama a century ago. With the natural style of today's acting so prevalent, prev-alent, it can be difficult to accept the stylized actingin-volved actingin-volved in melodrama. But it Melodrama Great -ould never be played realistically, real-istically, for the very nature is that of a parable, using stock virtues and not personalities. per-sonalities. Thus the style must fall between those who take the acting totally and outrageously out of hand to those who have, unfortunately, unfortunat-ely, tried to instill realism into their characters. The melodrama becomes much easier to understand as a theatrical event when viewed view-ed in the proper acting perspective. per-spective. The players are not laughing at themselves or the fundamental virtues involed. Instead, they are providing entertainment while teaching a lesson. Yes, you can really feel that these By Jean Piatt By Fair Means or Foul One of the regular features offered at the Park City Opera House is its melodrama melo-drama on Friday and Saturday Satur-day nights. The company is composed of a number of people who have been doing this mode of theatre for years. Occasionally a new face is brought in to play various parts, but it is the energy drive of Glen Slight and his troupe of faithful players that keeps the melo drama producing year after year. Melodrama is viewed in many ways these days, as it is an old form of theatre that is looked on as dated and stagnant by many. Melodrama Melo-drama is exactly what the Silver Wheel Players have made it aneveningof family entertainment for sheer pleasure with as little realism real-ism as possible. After all, the characters are all stereotypes that have such totally black and white qual- |