Millbrook: "The Chicken-Fried-Fabulous Spa-Dee-Dah Sisterhood"

With the death this month of actress-playwright Jessie Jones, the decades-long collaboration of Jones-Hope-Wooten has come to a close, though their many popular Southern female centered comedies will no doubt continue to be performed.

One of them -- The Chicken-Fried-Fabulous Spa-Dee-Dah Sisterhood -- concludes its two weekend run by the Millbrook Community Players this weekend. And from the audience laughter and applause, and Millbrook's commitment to producing their plays, they've clearly hit the funny-bone of the River Region. 

Sure, they're formulaic; sure, the jokes are familiar one-liners; sure, the endings are predictable -- but, "So, what?!" -- they're entertaining and an excellent antidote to the serious issues surrounding us every day.

Director Cheryll Phillips has conscripted a fine ensemble of neophyte and veteran actors for her production, some of them reprising roles from other shows in the Jones-Hope Wooten repertoire. And they deliver.

This time, vindictive Glorietta DeWitt [Amanda Ledbetter] contrives to commandeer a cookie recipe and the attendant business though whatever means she chooses. And the combined efforts of Carlene [Vicki Moses], Nita [Angie Head], Mavis [Karla McGhee], and Sugar Lee [Blair Berry], together with Bobby Dwayne [Bill Rauch] and surprise twist by Hardy [Steve Phillips] put an end to Glorietta's scheming. A lot goes wrong along the way, and a lot of silliness occurs, but the resolution is satisfying, so audiences can lap it up gleefully.

WOBT--Prattville: "Twelve Angry Jurors"

From Perry Mason to Law and Order, from Anatomy of a Murder to My Cousin Vinny, courtroom drama remains a popular entertainment in American households; but, while we eagerly watch the proceedings in the court, we are rarely invited into the Jury Room where life-and-death decisions are often made.

Reginald Rose's compelling Twelve Angry Men [television, film, and stage versions] takes a different stance; the entirety of it is located in the Jury Room, where twelve men from an assortment of backgrounds, races, and ages convene to deliberate what went on at the trial, and must decide the fate of a 19-year-old reform school suspect accused of murdering his father. -- An updated version by Sherman L. Sergel, now entitled Twelve Angry Jurors to accommodate female jurors and their enhanced perspectives, is currently on offer in director Alex Rikerd's compelling production at the Way Off Broadway Theatre in Prattville.

At the outset, we hear a judge's "charge" to the jurors that their decision must be unanimous, that the decision must be made "beyond reasonable doubt", and that a guilty verdict will result in the death penalty.

So the drama begins: it's a hot day, only one window is open, the fan doesn't work, and the jurors are hot, tired, impatient, and short-tempered. To most of them it's an open-and-shut case, but one of them has doubts; and it will take a lot of sifting through the details of the evidence, and questioning the validity of some witnesses' testimonies in order to get unanimous agreement. At a time when there were no cellphones, internet, or AI, they must deliberate on their own.

Ms. Rikerd has a tight ensemble of actors at her disposal; though they are identified only by their Juror Number and not by name, their backgrounds, biases, and personalities become abundantly clear as the tensions rise moment by moment. -- The main contenders are Juror #8 [Scott Rouse] who first admits he has doubts about the perpetrator's guilt, and Juror #3 [Matthew Givens] who is adamant on both the guilt and for the jury to reach a quick unanimous verdict.

As their arguments heat up, evidence is re-considered, and several other jurors change their minds, audiences too might well change their own opinions. -- And while this creates a good deal of frustration, the play is not only about their ultimate verdict. In fact, perhaps the more interesting elements of Twelve Angry Jurors are about the jury process itself, a deliberation on what constitutes "reasonable doubt" and "justice", and a challenge to audiences to recognize their own beliefs.

Theatre AUM: "Fool for Love"

Actor, director, multi-award winning playwright Sam Shepard was in the 1970s and 1980s the most fashionable playwright in the USA and abroad, his edgy, surrealistic plays dissecting some very uncomfortable social and family issues in bare-bones naturalistic dialogue. -- Alas, none of his plays have been performed in the River Region for decades: our loss.

But now, Theatre AUM [true-to-form in producing plays from across a wide international and stylistic spectrum] is bringing Shepard's compact Fool for Love to their stage. In a seedy Mojave desert motel, we meet May [Sam Crevensten], and Eddie [Samuel "Goose" Alford]; they are half-siblings and on-and-off lovers for about fifteen years, and while Eddie obsesses their relationship can be resumed, May wants nothing to do with him; in fact, she's expecting her date Martin [Nicholas Hall] any minute.

The fourth character is The Old Man [Jay Walker Russell] who fathered both May and Eddie with two different women, and who had abandoned them some time ago; he serves as a kind of narrator-conscience as he sits outside the action though he "communicates" with his children individually as his attempts to assuage his building guilt consumes him. The past haunts the present.

Eddie is also being stalked by his most recent lover, the unseen "Countess', who wreaks havoc on Eddie's truck in the parking lot.

There's a lot of tension in the one-hour stage time, and the actors give credible renderings of their roles. Ms. Crevensten -- a late addition to the cast -- gave an admirably intelligent interpretation on opening night, despite reading from the script she held in her hands. [While this has been done before, there is no doubt that holding a script inhibits physical movement and eye-to-eye contact with scene partners, and hence the rhythms and intensity of the dialogue, as well as the emotional impact on the audience.] -- Expectations are high that she will be off-book soon to ensure her talents are better displayed for future performances.

ASF: "Much Ado About Nothing"

During the opening night of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival director Bruce Longworth's merry production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, spontaneous laughs, sighs, and applause punctuated its two-and-a-half hours, and testified to local audiences' appreciation of the Bard -- if only there were more productions from the Classic repertoire at ASF. One need not be afraid of understanding a 400-year-old text when it is delivered with such clarity and assurance.

ASF is publicizing Much Ado as a "rom-com", a term unknown in Elizabethan England, but familiar in our contemporary jargon; so we can anticipate a story focused on romance, replete with lovers whose relationships are tested, along with conventional misunderstandings, deceptions, mishaps, clever dialogue, a duplicitous villain who interferes with wedding plans, and a bumbling policeman who accidentally uncovers the culprit to ensure a happy ending with dancing.

It's the Summer of 1919, some months after the end of World War I, and Don Pedro [Chauncy Thomas] and his retinue of soldiers arrive for a month's stay at Leonato's [J. D. Webster] in Sicily. Young soldier Claudio [Felix Torrez-Ponce] falls in love with Leonato's daughter Hero [Sigrid Wise]; they're a lovely couple we root for immediately.

And sparks fly between affirmed bachelor soldier Benedick [Christopher Gerson] and Hero's cousin Beatrice [Tarah Flanagan] whose long-term spat is carried out with entertaining witty dialogue...to everyone within earshot they're obviously made for each other, though neither of them admit it. They too earn every bit of our admiration, even as we witness their potential embarrassment.

Spoiler alert: With a Claudio-Hero wedding about to transpire, Don Jon [Patrick Halley] plots to stop the celebration by ruining Hero's reputation; and though successful at first, his ploy is discovered by a clownish policeman named Dogberry [French Stewart -- best known for tv's Third Rock from the Sun], whose Act II antics elicit well-earned laughter.

Mr. Longworth's creative team enhance every moment, from Josh Smith's detailed set, to Dottie Marshall Englis's attentive costumes [check the color-coded women's dresses, and her masterfully distinct costumes for actors playing multiple roles], to Nathan W Scheuer's evocative lighting, to Melanie Chen Cole's rich soundscape, and period-sounding music from composers Brien Style and Matt Pace...and of course the ensemble actors bringing Shakespeare's words and characters to life. 

Performances end on April 5th, so there's still time to welcome Spring at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival's offering of Much Ado About Nothing; it's well worth the effort.

Wetumpka Depot: "Pump Boys and Dinettes"

If memory serves, the only other time Pump Boys and Dinettes was performed in the River Region was an Alabama Shakespeare Festival production a few decades ago; having ended its three-weekend run at the Wetumpka Depot last Saturday, it played to a sometimes raucously over-enthusiastic audience. 

Set at a rural North Carolina Highway 57 "roadstop" gas station [the Pump Boys] and its next door neighbor Double-Cupp Diner [the Dinettes], the multitalented guys and gals showcase a host of toe-tapping high-octane songs through a slim plot that does little other than delineate character and relationships while stringing the songs together.

Never mind -- the whole point is to entertain, and director Kristy Meanor's ensemble cast come through in spades. Kaylee Baker, Mike Higgins, Sarah Kay, William Moncrief, Matthew Mitchell, Lloyd Strickland, and David Whitfield accompany themselves on a variety of musical instruments, and dance to Daniel Grant Harms's clever choreography for a rousing 90-minutes.

Whether they're singing country-rock or pop songs about fishing, working for tips, childhood nostalgia, female independence, or sibling relationships, the charisma they establish with one another and with the audience is never questioned. They're a likable group whose good-nature interacts with audiences.

There's a lot of talent on the Depot stage that brings Pump Boys and Dinettes back to vibrant life at a time when we need to enjoy one another's company, even for just a short time.

Millbrook: "Dearly Beloved"

Whenever a production penned by the Jones-Hope-Wooten franchise is on the boards [and it happens often; they're popular and very widely produced], you know what you're in for: lots of laughs from the most improbable of situations and wildly eccentric characters.

So, the current production of Dearly Beloved by the Millbrook Community Players fits the bill as it is performed with gusto by many of this Company's regular veteran actors and lesser-known ones.

We're in Fayro, TX, population 3003 as preparations for an upcoming wedding take place. One of Frankie Dubberly's [B. J. Alringer] twin daughters Tina Jo [Paula Roberts, who also plays the other twin Gina Jo] is about to tie the knot; Frankie's sisters Twink [Vicki Moses] and Honey Ray [Karla McGhee] are there to "help", but leave each other and wedding planner Geneva [Laura Smith] having to improvise when an inevitable disarray happens, and the groom's mother Patsy [Catherine Barlow] tries to throw a monkey-wrench into the proceedings.

The men-folk [Josh Register and Bill Rauch] try to stay out of their way by the barbecue pit; or comment on the action with charming weirdness [Michael Snead]; or remain near comatose by a combination of medicines and booze [Mark McGuire]; or get reluctantly conscripted to be the substitute preacher/minister for the ceremony [Brady Walker]. 

Director Stephanie McGuire tells its  convoluted story in a series of short scenes early on to provide a lot of expository information and establish character quirks and relationships. And the action takes several twists and turns until its resolution. -- No spoilers here; just relax into it and enjoy the ride.

It's all in good fun, after all, and a welcome antidote to our everyday concerns.

Way Off Broadway Theatre: "Rumors"

Setting: Snedan's Landing, a secluded exclusive community along the Hudson River a short distance from New York City; the home of New York's Deputy Mayor Charlie Brock and his wife Myra, who are hosting  a dinner party for their 10th Anniversary, and have invited four other successful couples. 

At the start of Neil Simon's comedy Rumors, their first guests find that Charlie has shot himself [a flesh-wound in his ear] and is recuperating in his bedroom, Myra is missing, and while there is food and drink available, the servants are nowhere to be found.

So, questions and "rumors" begin: Why did Charlie shoot himself? Where is Myra? Is their marriage on the rocks? How will the guests manage on their own without the house staff? And how can they diffuse the situation to avoid scandal?

Complications abound to dizzying effect with the arrivals of each of the three other couples who have issues of their own, and the improvised sharing and invention of selective details about Charlie and Myra that get more confused by the moment. 

Arguably one of Simon's most accomplished farces, its success depends on split-second timing, sharply witty dialogue and action, occasional gunshots, and a careful building of the frenzy that impacts each character individually. 

Prattville's Way Off Broadway Theatre ensemble actors, under Jessica Scott's direction, take audiences on an unrelentingly improbable ride for two hilarious hours. -- Don't try to figure it out; just go along for the ride and enjoy.

The four couples are played by Lily Farnsworth and Evan Scott, Amy Medeiros and Mark Sanders, Janie Allred and Rodney Winter, and Blair Berry and Gage Parr...each with their own quirks that entertain effectively. And though some of them hit their emotional peaks a bit too soon, leaving them nowhere to go by the end, and others occasionally play the same energy as their on-stage partners rather than contrasting them, it's all in good fun.

Two police officers played by Jeremy Berry and Michael Moseley arrive near the end of Act I investigating an automobile accident, and things get even more complicated as the four couples invent an even more preposterous explanation of what has been going on at their party.

With surprises at every corner that create havoc for the characters and delight for audiences, this version of Rumors lets us all take a break from the day-to-day concerns of the world around us. Thanks for the laughs.

Cloverdale Playhouse: "American Son"

There were several moments during the opening night's sold-out performance of the Cloverdale Playhouse's rendering of American Son when the audience was riveted into complete silence by the intensity on stage.

Deftly co-directed by Julie Janson and Tiara Staples, an estranged interracial couple's attempts to find out what happened to their son after a "traffic stop incident" are met with resistance from the authorities; they are forced to face their own biases and responsibilities both in bringing up their son and the challenges that race and gender bring into the equation.

Christopher Demos-Brown's tightly written 2016 script wisely does not choose sides; rather, it gives credence to each of the couple's points of view as well as to those of the nighttime duty officer and the Lieutenant in charge of the case. 

Each of the combatants here -- parents African-American Kendra [Taylor Finch] and Caucasian Scott [Ethan Montgomery], Caucasian Officer Larkin [Hunter Stewart], and African-American Lt. Stokes [Eric Ware] -- imbue their roles with conviction, creating an ensemble that lifts the action to focus on present day concerns with racial profiling all too common in our news headlines, where simple traffic-stops escalate to violence and catastrophic results.

We never encounter the 18-year old Jared in question, but Demos-Brown lets us see him through the various lenses of the on-stage quartet. -- Is he the misunderstood rebellious teenager his mother posits, or the wunderkind his father groomed for success, or the street-hood suggested by the Officer, or perhaps the unwitting bystander that the Lieutenant considers? -- Somewhere, the truth might be found.

While we might get caught up in both parents' concern for their son, and be frustrated by the Officer's resistance to revealing information to them, the compelling entrance of Lt. Stokes late in the action drives towards its devastating conclusion. The tension is palpable.

The dialogue each character delivers is rich in both overt and subtle gender or race biased assumptions, pitting them against one another and challenging audiences to confront their own positions. -- The 90-minutes we spend with them ought to encourage serious conversations beyond the theatrical experience.

Pike Road: "Oklahoma!"

Oklahoma! made history on its 1943 Broadway debut, and has been playing regularly across the country ever since. It ran for 2,212 performances, marked the first partnership of Rodgers and Hammerstein, won a  special Pulitzer Prize and many other awards, was one of the first "book musicals" which meaningfully incorporated song lyrics and dance numbers into the plot line and character development -- a practice that has been followed ever since. -- It has been performed in Montgomery a few times in the past ten years; and its newest iteration is director Michael Winkelman's vibrant Pike Road Theatre Company airing currently mid-run at Faulkner University.

And, despite a nostalgic, homespun, "aw, shucks!" feel, along with an old-fashioned presentational style, its popularity has not waned. Even the most jaded theatregoer responds to its wondrous musical score's litany of hit songs: the signature "Oklahoma!", of course, "Kansas City", "Surrey with the Fringe on the Top", "I Can't Say No", "Pore Jud is Daid", and "People Will Say We're in Love" among others...solos, duets, and ensemble pieces delivered by PRTC cast members with assurance so audiences are always engaged with music, characters, and plot.

Oklahoma's "Indian Territory" is on the brink of achieving Statehood in 1906; times are changing, and people there are eager to catch up with the present. The challenges they face on their inevitable social change are highlighted through personal relationships and dealing with those they consider "other": farmers vs. cowmen, youth vs. age, an immigrant peddler, a disgruntled hired-farmhand, and predictably two love-triangles whose participants try hard to figure out their relationships. -- Sound familiar?

The central love story between Curly [Andrew Clem] and Laurey [Rachel Pickering] is complicated by their resistance to admitting they love each other and by the obsessive stalking of Jud [Jason Morgan]. The young couple instantly capture our hearts, and it doesn't hurt that both of them are gifted with excellent voices and some nice on-stage chemistry. And Mr. Morgan's dark scowling becomes more and more sinister as the action proceeds

A comical counterpoint threesome is among flirtatiously impetuous Ado Annie [Ash Shanks] and her ardently naive boyfriend Will Parker [David Rowland], abetted by the Persian peddler Ali Hakim [Eric Arvidson]. The whole tenor of the production changes when these three strut across the stage with energy to spare and laughs galore. It's impossible to take your eyes off this couple.

With Ado Annie's shotgun-toting father Andrew Carnes [Sam Wallace] ever present to ensure everything is on the up-and-up, and with Laurey's Aunt Eller [Stephanie Coppock] as the most reasonable person in the story to wield her authority, you know that all will turn out for the best.

They are given ample support by the ensemble players whose infections energy pumps up every production number's dances choreographed by Karen Johnson..

There remains an imbalance between the recorded score and the singers over-amplified voices resulting in noise rather than clear lyrics, though both Ms. Pickering and Mr. Rowland manage to manipulate their voices to better effect.

The vibrancy of the PRTC's production of Oklahoma! makes it a guaranteed success.

ASF: "The Lehman Trilogy"

"They were all invincible until the were not."

Between their 1844 arrival to the USA from Bavaria and their 2008 bankruptcy, the Jewish immigrant Lehman brothers and their descendants built a financial empire through a combination of business acumen, intuition, ambition, adaptability, and family trust that was unrivaled in its time.

And the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is providing audiences a not-to-be-missed opportunity to witness a meaningfully accomplished production of The Lehman Trilogy that tracks this history with insight, humor, and a challenge for us to assess our own place in a complex society.

Ben Power's masterful adaptation of Stefano Massini's multiple-award-winning play, as deftly directed by Matt Torney, runs at about three hours with two intermissions; but have no fear, the time passes quickly under Power's three near-flawless virtuoso actors. Andrew Benator, Brian Kurlander, and Eric Mendenhall inhabit the roles of the three original brothers, their descendants, and multiple secondary characters with admirably attuned reflexes to one another, clear and rapid speech, quick pivots as they change from one character to another, and storytelling techniques that dazzle in their detail while making historical and personal moments ring true to life.

Their pursuit of "The American Dream" begins in Montgomery, forming the bedrock of what is to come, as they measure success with monetary profit in cotton and coffee, and precipitating a move to New York City, the epicenter of commerce.

As the generations evolve with the times -- from the Civil War and Reconstruction, to the 20th Century, the Great Depression, World War II profiteering, et al. -- the scope of their successes depends always on looking forward and anticipating the next steps by making adjustments to inevitable changes and taking risks before their competitors realize it.

Public business and the arc of global history are at the forefront, though we are also invited into the private history and the family's religious beliefs. They are rooted in the Jewish faith and its cultural practices, so we see the impact of prayers and rituals marking family events, major feasts, and holidays as the characters shift from strict adherence to mere signifiers as time goes on.

The Octagon Theatre's set by Isabel A. and Moriah Curley-Clay reflects a dry-goods store piled with cabinets and boxes, and strewn with bits and pieces of "goods" that remind us of the modest beginnings of the Lehman family no matter their amassed fortunes, and support the themes of control and profit. 

And, while the play has been criticized for paying slight attention to the Lehmans' engagement with slavery and some perceived stereotyping of Jews, The Lehman Trilogy purports to present a saga of multi-generational vicissitudes of capitalism that enthrall its audiences.

The end of the Lehman empire is well documented, so there should be no surprise at the end. Whether caused by accumulated hubris, the Lehmans and their descendants emerge as fully realized characters that fascinate in their complexity.