The Green Violinist 1923-24 by Marc Chagall the inspiration for the title of the musical, Fiddler on the Roof

“A fiddler on the roof. It sounds crazy, no?” asks the poor Jewish milkman. “In our little village of Anatevka you might say every one of us is a fiddler on a roof. Trying to scratch out a pleasant simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn’t easy. You may ask why do we stay up here if it is so dangerous? We stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance. That I can tell you in one word. Tradition!”

The fiddler is a metaphor for survival in a life of change and uncertainty through the upholding of tradition and joy.  Chagall used the fiddler in many of his paintings to illustrate happy celebrations in Jewish lives. Chagall painted "The Green Violinist" in 1923-1924, thirty years after Aleichem’s novel, Tevye's Daughters (or Tevye the Milkman), and forty years before the Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof.

Winston-Salem Journal Review - "Fiddler"

‘Fiddler’ inspires us to weigh tradition’s place
Sunday, November 4, 2012 12:00 am

Matchmaker

Ken Keuffel/Winston-Salem Journal

Do we uphold tradition or let it erode?

That’s the principal question at the heart of “Fiddler on the Roof,” the popular musical that Twin City Stage is reviving. And it’s a question we’re inspired to care about in numerous ways as we take in the often-funny show, which opened Friday at the Arts Council Theatre.

The show, directed with aplomb by Bobby Bodford, also thrives on the able music direction of Margaret B. Gallagher and the imaginative choreography of Benji Starcher. The cast often fills the stage, but you never feel that it becomes unwieldy or unmanageable.

“Fiddler” is set in a Jewish settlement in a Tsarist Russia that is intolerant of it and ultimately shuts it down. The musical transports us to a time when resistance to “modern” ideas was beginning to weaken.

One result: a man and a woman might just bypass a matchmaker and marry because of their love for one another, even if such a union meant financial struggles, dislocation or being stigmatized for marrying outside one’s faith.

Tim Austin as Tevye

Tevye (Tim Austin), the loveable milkman, contends with revolutionary notions taking hold in his three oldest daughters as they find love and pursue marriage. The daughters are Tzeitel (Mary Lea Williams); Hodel (Katie Skawski); and Chava (Gracie Falk).

Austin is at his best when the rest of the play’s action freezes and he engages in a mini-soliloquy, weighing the pros and cons of a momentous dilemma. Tzeitel, for example, might not enter an arranged marriage with a wealthy butcher old enough to be her father, opting instead for Motel (Latimer Alexander), a poor tailor.

In each mini-soliloquy sequence, Austin goes back and forth thoughtfully between two extremes, beginning each scenario with “on the other hand.” His struggles emerge as genuine, exposing the tensions between rigid inflexibility and greater openness.

For some reason, I hadn’t seen a production of “Fiddler on the Roof” until I reviewed the current Twin City production. But I had certainly heard parts of it many times in the great songs by composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick. These were powerful enough to enter the collective consciousness and stay there for almost 50 years, delighting young and old alike. The original Broadway production of “Fiddler” opened in 1964, spawning numerous professional and amateur revivals.

On Friday, it was a joy to experience such classics as “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”; “If I Were a Rich Man”; and “Sunrise, Sunset” in their original contexts. The humor in Joseph Stein’s book, though sometimes a bit corny, usually hits the nail on the head in its expression of universal truths about life, money or the lack thereof.

Winston-Salem Journal Article"Twin City Stage presents "Fiddler on the Roof"

Katie Skawski, Tim Austin, Mary Lea Williams and Gracie Falk   Credit:  Photo Daniel Alvarez

By: LYNN FELDER | Special Correspondent Published: October 28, 2012
On a warm October night, in the parking lot just outside the rehearsal hall of the Arts Council Theatre, people in groups of two, three and more interacted intensely. One group worked out complex musical harmonies. Another group danced a simple routine. Yet another shouted their lines to each other.

Small groups like these are the threads that ultimately will come together to form a big, sprawling tapestry of a musical, "Fiddler on the Roof." It's a story that is as intimate as family and as epic as the Jewish diaspora. Twin City Stage will present it starting Friday night.

"That's exactly what you have to do," director Bobby Bodford said of the need to break the show into bite-sized pieces. "First of all, it helps when you have a really good musical director (Margaret B. Gallagher) and choreographer (Benji Starcher). I have to put it all together, but I don't have to teach music and dancing. It's really about collaboration, and when you have three professionals, right off the bat things go well."

Gallagher hires the musicians, conducts the orchestra and teaches the music to the cast, so she's working closely with professionals and amateurs.

"It's really rewarding working with community theater," she said. "There are people who haven't been in a show since high school and some who have never been in a show. It's great to see friendships form, and it's great to see people get bitten with the theater bug."

The music is by Jerry Bock, who won Tony awards for "Fiddler." "It's beautiful, beautiful music," Gallagher said. "It's not as complicated vocally as, say, Sondheim, but the music really helps the story unfold. In the opening piece, 'Tradition,' you get introduced to the families the children, the parents, the grandparents."

And "Fiddler's" music has stood the test of time. It opened on Broadway in 1964. "I know people who still use 'Sunrise, Sunset' in their weddings," Gallagher said.

Inside the recently renovated rehearsal hall, a big piece of the tapestry was enacted in "Tevye's Dream" scene, which includes special effects and nearly the entire 60-person cast. Another big piece of the tapestry is the performance of "Sunrise, Sunset," a longtime audience favorite. The large chorus created a full, rich sound in the rehearsal of this scene.

"That's now, in a raw rehearsal hall with no dramatic lighting," Bodford said. "Imagine how effective it will be when it's finished. And when it gets on the stage, it's never exactly what you envision in the rehearsal hall."

Gallagher concurred. "I'm very happy with the chorus. The more experienced people help the less experienced," she said. "And we just do it till they get it. The music is simple enough that we can spend time on nuance."

"Fiddler" is set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. Tevye, a poor dairyman played by Tim Austin, tries to teach his five daughters the value of traditions in a changing world. Charlene Martin plays Tevye's wife, Golde. Mary Lea Williams (Tzeitel), Katie Skawski (Hodel), Gracie Falk (Chava), Logan Welborn (Shprintze) and Isabella Ellis (Bielke) play their daughters.

The original Broadway production opened in 1964 and was the first musical-theater show in history to surpass 3,000 performances. "Fiddler" remains Broadway's 15th longest-running musical. It was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won nine, including best musical, score, book, direction and choreography. It has been revived four times on Broadway and was made into a film in 1971.

"It's such a well-structured musical," Bodford said. "I totally understand why it's timeless. Some musicals are hard to sit through, but I don't think 'Fiddler' will ever be like that. It's about change and tradition. Tevye's children are going to go away, and he'll probably never see some of them again.

"It's very easy to grasp this and get into these characters or find one you can identify with. They have three days to get everything sold or given away. I don't know if there's a sadder scene than seeing those villagers say goodbye to each other. Their faith and hope keeps them alive.

"Then, at the end of the scene, Golde says, 'Anh, it's just a place.'"

In addition to occasionally directing shows at Twin City Stage, Bodford is the artistic director at The Children's Theatre of Winston-Salem and directs for other youth groups. He places a high value on the relationships that theater fosters.

"You saw the elements of it," Bodford said. "These young people are forming friendships that will last forever."

Those relationships also extend to the larger theater community.

"What the job has done is give me contacts in a 30-mile radius," Bodford said. "It's a small world, and it's great to be connected and know all the talent in the area.

"Our sound designer is from UNC School of the Arts. They get to come in and do their thing without a professor grading them."

As far as getting a good performance out of his cast of 60, plus musicians, Bodford isn't worried. "The job has a certain amount of stress built into it, but I've been doing it for a long time, and I know what's needed," he said. "It needs to be a good experience for the audience and for the participants, too." 

And that's the definition of community theater, isn't it?

"Fiddler on the Roof Cast" at Twin City Stage

November 2-4, 8-11; 15-18, 2012 Thursday-Saturday at 8pm  and Sundays at 2pm

Tevye, a poor dairyman, tries to teach his five daughters the value of traditions in a changing world. Humor, warmth and honesty continue to delight audiences years after the show became a Broadway legend.

Director - Bobby Bodford

Music Director – Margaret Gallagher

Choreographer – Benji Starcher


Cast List:

Tevye -Tim Austin

Golde -Charlene Bray Martin

Tzeitel -Mary Lea Williams

Hode - Katie Skawsk

Chava -Gracie Falk

Shprintze -Logan Welborn

Bielke - Isabella Ellis

Yente - Michele Groneck

Motel - Latimer Alexander

Perchik, the Student - Carlos Nieto

Lazar Wolf, the Butcher- Roy Carlson

Mordcha, the Innkeeper - Cameron Williams

Rabbi - Mark Walek

Avram, the Book Seller - Brandon Lloyd Hicks

Nachum, the Beggar- Norm Birdsall

Grandma Tzeitel - Jean Wentz

Fruma-Sarah - Donna Bissette

Constable - Michael Burke

Fyedka - Gray Kinnier

Shaindel, Motel’s Mother - Sally Meehan

Yussel, the Hat Maker - Devlin Burke

The Fiddler - Annalisa Ebbink

Sasha- Ryan Ball

Priest - James Toole, Sr

Villagers: 


Mammas –
Anna Kellner, Miriam Davie, Hannah Wright, Synthia Folwell, Angela Hodges, Carol Simes, Margie McKenzie, Brenda Dailey, Georgann Schultz, Charity Hampton

Daughters – 
Erin Barile, Hannah Schultz, Danielle Schultz, Gracie Phillips, Lauren Danielle Stacks, Isabella Gorden, Molly McKenzie, Katie Hines, Mary Cathryn Wolfert, Madeline Kendrick, Selin Yalcinkaya, Olivia Crowell, Ava Louise Foster, Elizabeth Wentz-Moore, Eileen Dixon



Papas- 
Michael Gendy, Pat Beard, John S. Foltz, James Toole, jr.

Sons -
Landry Bohn, Marc Bertoni, Gary Freedman


Russians - Mat Tabat, Fred Crowell

, Ryan Ball

Winston-Salem Journal Review - "Annie"

'Annie' brings 'magic time' to the stage'
By: LYNN FELDER | Special correspondent
Published: November 06, 2011

Annie and Sandy

It may be a "Hard-Knock Life" out there in the world, but the audience at the opening night of Twin City Stage's production of "Annie" was on "Easy Street" Friday night.

Annie and the 11 other orphan girls set a high standard of performance in the first scene with "Maybe" (Annie's solo) and "Hard-Knock Life" (a great production number). They proceed from there to fairly run away with the show, and there's plenty to run away with: Benji Starcher's choreography is exuberant; Bland Wade's gold-and-sepia-toned sets are elegant; Justin Hall's 1930s-style costumes are pitch-perfect.

The orchestra, under the talented leadership of Margaret B. Gallagher, often sounds much fuller than its 10 pieces, and the singing is fine throughout.

Anytime the girls are on stage, it's magic time, and the same goes for the orphanage supervisor Miss Hannigan, played with wicked relish by Peggie Kaan. Miss Hannigan, one of the juiciest roles in the repertoire, loves booze as much as she hates "Little Girls." Kaan rips into her role, stomping and reeling about with one sock up and one sock down as she hectors her charges and bemoans her fate.

Hooverville

But the orphans are far too plucky to seem like victims. Annie, well-played by Beatrice Howell, 11, and the littlest orphan, Molly, played by the effervescent Isabella Ellis, lead the others in numerous assaults on poor Miss Hannigan's dubious dignity.

The villains and the heroes are pretty clear-cut in "Annie," but director Steven LaCosse stays away from comic-book characterizations and lets his actors develop real personalities.

LaCosse's opera-director hand can be seen in some wonderful ensemble staging and in his collaboration with choreographer Starcher: "I Think I'm Going To Like It Here," the number when the servants welcome Annie to her new (maybe) home; and "NYC," when Daddy Warbucks (Ken Kennedy) and his secretary Grace (the graceful Miriam Davie) take Annie out on the town.

Many of the 32 cast members play multiple roles and perform amazing feats of quick-costume change. Mark Pirolo does a fine turn as Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Joshua Gerry as Rooster Hannigan (Miss Hannigan's ne'er-do-well brother) and Mary Lea Williams as his girlfriend, Lily, are deliciously sleazy and fun to watch. Drake, Warbucks' butler, played by Miles Stanley, has a grand sonorous voice.

And there's something just irresistible about a little red-haired girl standing on a desk in the Oval Office advising FDR and his Cabinet to believe in "Tomorrow."

Act I is a little long, and the energy dropped a tad before intermission, but things picked up fast in Act II. In fact, there are too many wonderful moments in this show to note them all here. Suffice it to say, it's a show that's so full of love and optimism that you will likely leave the theater feeling a whole lot of both.

Winston-Salem Journal Article - "Annie"

'Little Girls' have big shoes to fill in beloved 'Annie'

By: LYNN FELDER | Special correspondent
Published: October 30, 2011

Twin City Stage

     "Little cheeks. Little teeth. Everything around me is little," sings Miss Hannigan, the orphanage supervisor who is hilariously unsuited to care for the "Little Girls" whom she's singing about in "Annie." The musical opens Friday night at the Arts Council Theatre
     Eighty-five girls from in and around Winston-Salem auditioned for "Annie" in September. That's a lot of little cheeks and little teeth; a lot of little voices for singing and feet for dancing, too.
     "It was a tough decision to pare it down," said director Steven LaCosse. "We had a first round (of auditions) and a second round, and just sort of pulled it in little by little.
     "There were several girls who stood out … and we had them reading together and singing together."
     Beatrice Howell, 11, won the coveted title role. She is slender with a piping voice and a sunny personality. But there was so much talent on display that LaCosse ultimately selected 11 girls to play the orphans instead of the usual seven in the script.
      Rehearsals for the all-volunteer cast are nightly from 7 to 11 p.m.
     "We try to only call the orphans for rehearsal on a couple of school nights," LaCosse said. "But Annie's in every scene, and she has to be there every night."
     Despite the grumpy Miss Hannigan, played by newcomer Peggie Kaan, and a few other n'er-do-wells, love and optimism are at the heart of "Annie's" appeal.
     The time is 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. The setting is New York.
     Annie was left at the orphanage in 1922 with a note from her parents saying that they would return for her one day. She's hopeful, but decides to take things into her own hands.
     After comforting the littlest orphan, Molly, played by a lively and bespectacled Isabella Ellis, Annie escapes from the orphanage to search for her parents.
     Annie is taken in temporarily by Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks, a millionaire, who offers a $50,000 reward to anyone finding her parents.
     "Annie is able to bring light and change back into Daddy Warbucks' all-business world," LaCosse said.
     This is LaCosse's fifth show in 13 years for Twin City Stage. He is the opera director and the assistant dean for enrollment in the music school at UNC School of the Arts. He has sung and directed with Piedmont Opera.
     A quiet man in interviews and conversations, LaCosse is animated in rehearsals. He bounces from room to room for the first run-through of the Act II opener, "You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile." The number is done in two scenes: One, a radio show, includes Annie and some of the adults. The second, a room in the orphanage, includes all the other Little Girls.
     In the rehearsal hall, Daphne Nichols plays accompaniment on piano, and Margaret B. Gallagher directs the singing. LaCosse gives a few instructions to the girls and to choreographer Benji Starcher, who then teaches the dance steps and staging to the Little Girls.
     The girls fidget and chat a little among themselves. But they mostly pay rapt attention to LaCosse, Gallagher and Starcher, and concentrate on the words and movements.
     After he has them do the dance for what seems like the 2,000th time, Starcher smiles with infinite patience and says, "Don't worry. You've got it. It will happen."
      Down the hall in the theater lobby, LaCosse works with Annie and the adults on the radio-show version of the song.
     "I enjoy directing, and it's always fun working with people. This show has a lot of heart," LaCosse said. "It rings very true to what's happening in the country today. The real heart of the story is in the relationship between Daddy Warbucks and Annie. He came to realize that all he ever wanted was money and power. What was missing was someone to care for — who could count on him and he could count on."
     LaCosse said that planning and preparation are essential to working with a 32-member cast. "Musicals are the ultimate collaborative project," he said. In addition to the music director and choreographer, the scene designer Bland Wade, costume designer Justin Hall and stage manager Edwin Martinat are also key team members.
     LaCosse said that he has directed more than 600 productions in his career, and he has learned how to work with the volunteers and the professionals.
     "You've got people volunteering their time, so you really want to treat them with respect," he said. "If you have patience and people are doing their job, it will get done."
     So he plans, prepares and then remains open to suggestions. "If they make a suggestion, we try it. That's how we rehearse," he said.
     "We need a show that has optimism and says that things are going to get better, and they will get better," LaCosse said. "Sometimes, it's hard to remember that."

Twin City Stage "Annie" Cast List

November 4-6; 10-13 & 17-20, 2011

Shows are Thursday-Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 

2pm

By Strouse, Charnin and Meehan  The Tony Award-winning musical, featuring the popular song “Tomorrow” has been a favorite with audiences since 1977. Annie foils Miss Hannigan's evil plans, befriends the President and finds a new family and home with billionaire Oliver Warbucks, and a lovable mutt named Sandy.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Women

Mary Lea Williams - Lily 


Miriam Davie - Grace 


Peggie Kaan - Hannigan 


Angela Hodges - Mrs. Greer 


Heather Osterer - Ronnie Boylan 


Kathy Ledbetter - Star To Be 


Katie Lyall - Annette & Usherette

Marge Clark - Mrs. Pugh & Perkins 


Sally Meehan - Dog Catcher 


Susan Rapier - Sophie the Kettle 


Suzanne Vaughan - Bonnie Boylan 


Taylor Kearney - Cecile & Connie Boylan


Men

Joshua Gerry - Rooster 


Ken Kennedy - Warbucks 


Mark Pirolo - FDR 


Cameron Williams - Bert Healy & Harold Ickes 


Donovan Fansler - Bundles, Eddie, Fred & Louis Howe


Joshua Fansler - Jimmy Johnson 


Miles Stanley - Drake, Radio Producer & Cordell Hull 


Ryan Ball - Assistant Dog Catcher & Marine Honor Guard 


Tony Courville - Sound Effects Man

Orphans

Isabella Ellis - Molly 


Ellie Burdette - Pepper 


Fara Marin - Duffy 


Logan Wellborn - July

Meredith Brown - Tessie 


Mary Cathryn Wolfert - Kate 


Beatrice Howell - Annie 


Jessie Burdette - Laurie 


Martha Dean - Judy

Annalisa Ebbink - Dana 


Ava Foster - Jessie 


Tori Seals - Jennie

Winston-Salem Journal Review - "Children of Eden"

Twin city Stage

Biblical stories sing in 'Children of Eden'

There are lots of people out there who've either never seen a live performance of musical theater or haven't attended one in years. Which show is best for them?


By KEN KEUFFEL | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: March 28, 2011

Twin City Stage makes a good case for "Children of Eden," which opened Friday at the Arts Council Theatre and will run there through April 10. I attended Sunday's show.

Congregations of churches and synagogues should flock to see "Children of Eden," as should families with young children, especially those who have read or heard the most popular stories in the Bible.

Twin City Stage

Stephen Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for "Children of Eden," and John Caird the book. The show dramatizes several familiar parts of the Genesis story, including the Creation; Noah (Art Bloom) and the Flood; and the stories of Adam (Justin Hall) and Eve (Amanda Martin). The tale of Cain and Abel is also retold.

Some liberties are taken in the retelling of these stories, but not enough to alter the most important basics.

We sympathize with Father, aka God (Chuck King), who lays down the law only to find that his children either keep questioning said law or ignore it altogether because, well, that apple is just too tempting.

The first act of "Eden" takes us through Cain's murder of his brother and the hardscrabble wandering in the wilderness that the sins of Adam and Eve have unleashed. Act II is given over to Noah and the Flood. Each character convincingly shows his or her personal growth, and we better understand their difficult choices.

Twin City Stage

I liked the Flood parts of "Eden" the best. Here Bloom adopts the stereotypical mannerisms and accents of the Jewish ghetto to great comic effect. We're also prompted to sympathize with the plight of the passengers and animals of the ark. God, if the rain doesn't stop and dry land doesn't appear, our provisions will run out. Will we be forced to eat the animals on board?

Schwartz wrote the music and lyrics for "Godspell" and "Pippin," two Broadway success stories that revealed his mastery of the pop idiom.

In "Children of Eden," by contrast, I sense songwriting and choral music of greater range and ambition. Sure, the peppy sound of Broadway is frequently evident. But so is more potent and challenging ensemble writing that would be appropriate for opera or oratorio. The cast sings it well.

---

KKeuffel@wsjournal.com
(336) 727-7337

Children of Eden Cast

TWIN CITY STAGE Presents the Joyous Musical, Children of Eden

March 25-27; 31-April 3 ; 7-10, 2011

Twin City Stage enjoyed the largest turnout in the past decade during its auditions for the musical Children of Eden, which opens March 25 for a three-week run. More than 75 people showed up at the Arts Council Theatre on Coliseum Drive to win one of 40 parts in the cast. Not since the theater company did The Sound of Music has an audition drawn so much interest from the Triad community.               

The popular show features music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell and Wicked) and book by John Caird (Les Misérables). Leading the TCS cast will be Jim Shover, director, Maggie Gallagher, music director, and Benji Starcher, the dance captain.

An award-winning director, Shover calls Children of Eden a “real spectacle” with an important message. As he describes that message, “We are here for each other.”

The story is based on a familiar book, Genesis. Act I presents the generational challenges that occur first between Father (Chuck King), Adam (Justin Hall) and Eve (Amanda Martin) and then between the world’s first parents and their sons Cain (Phillip Fullerton) and Abel (Joe Boles). In the second act, the same struggles are repeated between Noah (Art Bloom) and Mama Noah (Lalenja Harrington) and their sons Shem (Shane Fisher), Ham (Ray Pruett) and Japheth (Troy Wilson) and their wives Aphra (Elizabeth Barr), Aysha (Liz Townley) and Japheth’s intended, Yonah (Lauren Stephenson).

In addition to the inspiring message set to music, audiences will enjoy special effects that include  multiple actors moving in tandem as the Tree of Knowledge and as the Snake and, in the second act, a stage flooded and filled with Noah’s Ark.

Cast

FATHER Chuck King ADAM Justin Hall EVE Amanda Martin CAIN Phillip Fullerton ABEL Joe Boles YOUNG CAIN Britton Sear YOUNG ABEL Landry Bohn SETH Zachary Campbell SETH'S WIFE Ashley Bodford NOAH Art Bloom MAMA NOAH Lalenja Harrington JAPHETH Troy Wilson YONAH Lauren Stephenson HAM Ray Pruett AYSHA Liz Townley SHEM Shane Fisher APHRA  Miriam Davie  SNAKE Benji Starcher Miriam Davie Karen Fullerton Rioghnach Robinson John Parsons Tyler Harmon-Townsend

STORYTELLERS: Sally Lindel Angela Hodges Abby Kelpin Carol Simes Hailey Lewis Charity Hampton Miles Stanley Justin Attkisson Ryan Chan Jacob Peller Gary Freedman CHILDRENS ENSEMBLE: Annalisa Ebbink Cardari Lee Justin Harrington

Our Revels Now Are Ended!

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. 

William Shakespeare, "The Tempest", Act 4 scene 1

 

 The To Kill a Mockingbird stage is now empty - all have returned to resume their daily activities - farewell!

Winston-Salem Journal Review - "To Kill a Mockingbird"

excel: Play has consistently good acting

By Leigh Somerville McMillan | SPECIAL TO THE JOURNAL
Published: October 31, 2010

Credit: Shawn Hooper photo
Laura Browne plays Scout and Jae Campbell plays Calpurnia in the Arts Council Theatre production of To Kill a Mockingbird.

     The Arts Council Theatre was packed Friday night for the opening of To Kill a Mockingbird, and, no doubt, most of the audience had either read Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-prize-winning novel or seen the movie, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch.
     In the program’s director’s notes, Stan Bernstein addresses the challenge of following in such footsteps. He writes, “the bar is set so high, you need binoculars to see it.” Did they clear the bar? Most certainly.

     Mark Boynton did not walk on stage with Peck’s physical height — a gift when an actor plays a giant like Atticus Finch — and he certainly did not appear to be 50 years old — despite the silver hairspray. But within minutes, the magic of his acting had us convinced we were looking at the lawyer who faced racial hatred in the 1930s rural South and didn’t turn away. 

     Don Pocock is his perfect foil as the strutting, smirking Mr. Gilmer, who represents the accuser, Mayella Ewell. In that role, Rene Walek hides under greasy, long bangs, wrings her skirt and wilts into an olive-drab cardigan as she portrays a young woman who is both incorrigible in her lying and pitiful as someone who is as much a victim as the black man she falsely accuses of raping her.
     Three exceptionally talented children held their own on a stage filled with adults, and that’s not easy. Laura Browne (Scout), Adam Chase (Jem) and Britton Sear (Dill) each came to this show with an already impressive acting history. The addition of such fine performances in To Kill a Mockingbird will certainly further their theatrical careers.
     Still, one question lingers. What happened to make the spitting tomboy, Scout — dressed in bib overalls and mismatched socks — grow up to become the adult Jean Louise who narrates the story? Sheri Masters, in that role, plays prim and proper from the tips of her high-heeled pumps to her tight French twist. She didn’t even bat an eye during one or two opening night microphone malfunctions. Positioning her on stage — and yet setting her apart by having her voice the only one amplified — very effectively illustrated her intense love for her father.

     And directing the two lawyers to play to the audience — creating the sense that the audience was the jury — did exactly what Bernstein intended. From our perspective 50 years after the book was written, we longed to free Tom Robinson (played with gut-wrenching resignation by Derrick Parker). The audience may not have been as innocent as the children hanging over the courtroom balcony, but we knew the truth of the situation — and the times — and it broke our hearts.

      Mark March, as Heck Tate, drew a round of applause for his delivery of the line, “Bob Ewell fell on his own knife.” It didn’t matter whether the applause was for March’s consistently strong performance as the conflicted sheriff, or because the audience supported his decision to protect the Finch family. The applause was well-deserved and provided the point at which the entire cast cleared Bernstein’s bar — with inches to spare.