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Porthouse Theatre's musical production has audience smiling
By Elaine Guregian
Beacon Journal
POSTED: 01:08 p.m. EDT, Jun 16, 2008
How many musicals are as fizzy as Champagne and feature adorable gangsters? In Cole Porter's Anything Goes, bad guys and socialites alike are put onstage for one reason: to make us smile. I couldn't stop grinning at the snappy, effervescent production that opened at Porthouse Theatre Friday night.
The evening got off to a festive start. As the show's director, Terri Kent, was introducing it, Summit County Councilman Frank Communale ran down the steps of the open-air pavilion, yelling, ''Stop!'' He presented Kent with flowers and a cake celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Kent/Blossom Theatre Festival, where professional artists mentor theater students in productions at Kent State's Porthouse Theatre. (A bit of trivia: Communale says he once played the role of Billy, the romantic lead in Anything Goes.)
MaryAnn Black's choreography animates the show with sleek, well-drilled routines, making the most of the crisp two-story set by Robert F. Wolin. The action, set in the '30s, takes place on an ocean liner.
Black had the dancers moving up and down the stairs, covering every inch of available space with tapping feet or high-kicking legs )— including her own. Black was also the cutest of flirts as Erma.
The students in the cast kept pace snappily with the experienced performers who took the leading roles. The big production number to the title song that closed the first act would be enough to reel in any customer.
I'll admit, I'm a huge Cole Porter fan. His music and lyrics are models of urbane wit. Porter was a master of the clever rhyme, and the precise diction of the entire cast let us catch every joke. Kayce Cummings was princess-sweet as Hope Harcourt, the rich girl that poor boy-turned-stock broker Billy Crocker (Justin Gentry) falls for. Gentry, a recent KSU graduate, was an entirely likable hero, and there was good chemistry pulling these two lovebirds together.
KSU professor Eric van Baars was a delight as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, the Englishman who is engaged to Hope. Oakleigh let us see him gradually fall for the totally unsuitable Reno Sweeney, the showgirl played with unflagging energy by Sandra Emerick. Blow, Gabriel, Blow was a tour de force for Emerick.
In The Gypsy in Me, the proper Englishman lets his inhibitions go, and van Baars was a hoot. Elsewhere, Oakleigh's exaggerated sexual gestures with the sword weren't necessary. That's the thing about Porter; his lyrics are enough to make his humor work.
This production uses a new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman; the original book by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton had earlier been revised by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The banter bubbles along, with the charming Rohn Thomas as the gangster Moonface Martin grabbing every opportunity for a laugh.
And of course, there's one familiar Porter tune after another, from I Get a Kick Out of You and You're the Top to It's De-Lovely and All Through the Night.
I wish that musical director Nancy Andersen Wolfgang could have come onstage to take a bow for her terrific orchestra. The musicians played out of sight, since there's no room for a pit orchestra in this small theater.
The amplification was too loud and suffered a few brief glitches, though perhaps the rainstorm complicated matters. Occasional light sprays of rain coming through the sides of the pavilion made it fun to imagine we were sitting on the deck of this madcap ship.
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com
How many musicals are as fizzy as Champagne and feature adorable gangsters? In Cole Porter's Anything Goes, bad guys and socialites alike are put onstage for one reason: to make us smile. I couldn't stop grinning at the snappy, effervescent production that opened at Porthouse Theatre Friday night.
The evening got off to a festive start. As the show's director, Terri Kent, was introducing it, Summit County Councilman Frank Communale ran down the steps of the open-air pavilion, yelling, ''Stop!'' He presented Kent with flowers and a cake celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Kent/Blossom Theatre Festival, where professional artists mentor theater students in productions at Kent State's Porthouse Theatre. (A bit of trivia: Communale says he once played the role of Billy, the romantic lead in Anything Goes.)
MaryAnn Black's choreography animates the show with sleek, well-drilled routines, making the most of the crisp two-story set by Robert F. Wolin. The action, set in the '30s, takes place on an ocean liner.
Black had the dancers moving up and down the stairs, covering every inch of available space with tapping feet or high-kicking legs )— including her own. Black was also the cutest of flirts as Erma.
The students in the cast kept pace snappily with the experienced performers who took the leading roles. The big production number to the title song that closed the first act would be enough to reel in any customer.
I'll admit, I'm a huge Cole Porter fan. His music and lyrics are models of urbane wit. Porter was a master of the clever rhyme, and the precise diction of the entire cast let us catch every joke. Kayce Cummings was princess-sweet as Hope Harcourt, the rich girl that poor boy-turned-stock broker Billy Crocker (Justin Gentry) falls for. Gentry, a recent KSU graduate, was an entirely likable hero, and there was good chemistry pulling these two lovebirds together.
KSU professor Eric van Baars was a delight as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh, the Englishman who is engaged to Hope. Oakleigh let us see him gradually fall for the totally unsuitable Reno Sweeney, the showgirl played with unflagging energy by Sandra Emerick. Blow, Gabriel, Blow was a tour de force for Emerick.
In The Gypsy in Me, the proper Englishman lets his inhibitions go, and van Baars was a hoot. Elsewhere, Oakleigh's exaggerated sexual gestures with the sword weren't necessary. That's the thing about Porter; his lyrics are enough to make his humor work.
This production uses a new book by Timothy Crouse and John Weidman; the original book by P.G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton had earlier been revised by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The banter bubbles along, with the charming Rohn Thomas as the gangster Moonface Martin grabbing every opportunity for a laugh.
And of course, there's one familiar Porter tune after another, from I Get a Kick Out of You and You're the Top to It's De-Lovely and All Through the Night.
I wish that musical director Nancy Andersen Wolfgang could have come onstage to take a bow for her terrific orchestra. The musicians played out of sight, since there's no room for a pit orchestra in this small theater.
The amplification was too loud and suffered a few brief glitches, though perhaps the rainstorm complicated matters. Occasional light sprays of rain coming through the sides of the pavilion made it fun to imagine we were sitting on the deck of this madcap ship.
Elaine Guregian can be reached at 330-996-3574 or eguregian@thebeaconjournal.com
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