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September 2008
Vanguard favorite rewards audience
DAYTON — Celebrating its 10th anniversary as an ensemble, the celebrated Claremont Trio made a return trip to Dayton this week to open the 47th season of Vanguard Concerts at the Dayton Art Institute.
The performance Friday night, Sept. 26, was the group’s fifth appearance under Vanguard’s auspices, making Dayton one of its most frequent — and favorite — stops, according to pianist Donna Kwong.
The Claremont, which also features twin sisters Emily Bruskin (violin) and Julia Bruskin (cello), is likewise a favorite with the Vanguard audience, which eschewed the evening’s live television broadcast of the first presidential debate in order to attend the trio’s concert.
The young women rewarded the small crowd’s loyalty by presenting a memorable performance loaded with artistic vitality and emotional intensity. The political debate could be taped for later watching, but there’s no capturing the full effect of a live musical concert.
The program featured works by Franz Joseph Hadyn (Piano Trio in G Major, Hob. XV:25), Bedrich Smetana (Piano Trio in g minor, Op. 15) and Antonin Dvorak (Piano Trio in f minor, Op. 65).
The Smetana, an expressive and demanding piece new to many in the audience, was the highlight of the first half of the evening.
The second half was devoted to the Dvorak, a beautiful and profound work of almost symphonic range, which the Claremont played as of one mind — and heart.
The Vanguard Concerts season continues Oct. 17, with a performance by violinist Mayuko Kamio. For more information, call (937) 436-0244 or (937) 512-0144.
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X-FEST fan appreciation show announced
Two weeks ago hurricane force winds cut short X-FEST 13 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.
Today, Friday, Sept. 26, WXEG and Live Nation announced the Jagermeister Music Tour featuring Hinder, Trapt and Rev Theory, plus Shinedown and Red at the Ervin J Nutter Center on Monday December 15 at 6:30 PM.
The good news for X-FEST fans? The concert will be free to anyone with an X-FEST ticket stub.
“In our 13 years of X-FEST, we’ve endured heat, cold, rain and mud, but never have we experienced the kind of weather Dayton was hit with two weeks ago,” said Kramer, Program Director of 103.9 WXEG. “We’ve always tried to offer incredible value with our X-FEST ticket, and we just weren’t happy with the way the day had to end this year. We’re thrilled to be able to offer a free show to our listeners, as well as half-off next year’s show!”
Here’s what you need to know: Tickets became available today XFEST ‘08 fans who have ticket stubs from the X-FEST 13 event that was cut short. Those ticketholders are also entitled to a 50% off Coupon for XFEST ‘09.
To redeem your X-FEST ticket for a ticket to the Jagermeister Music Tour show on December 15, your options are:
Visit the Nutter Center ticket office with your X-FEST 13 ticket stub, and exchange it for a ticket to the concert and receive one 50% off voucher to XFEST ‘09. Nutter Center Box Office hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday or 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Mail your X-FEST 13 ticket stub to the Nutter Box Office along with a self addressed stamped envelope, and a ticket and 50% voucher to XFEST ‘09 will be returned.
Mailing address is: Nutter Center Att: XFEST Fan Appreciation Show WSU Box Office 3640 Colonel Glenn Hwy Dayton, OH 45435
For more information contact 103.9 WXEG directly. Here is a page of phone numbers and e-mail addresses on their Web site with more information.
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DPO with a twist
A French twist, that is.
The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra opened its 2008-09 Chamber Explorations Series Wednesday evening, Sept. 24, at the Schuster Center with an all-French program of works.
The concert, which was to be repeated Thursday morning, featured pieces by early 20th century composers Marcel Ravel, Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud.
The three works have more in common than their composer’s era and country of origin; each has a narrative or programmatic backdrop, though the source material ranged widely in mood and purpose. Each also had beginnings in alternative performance arrangements.
Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” (Couperin’s Tomb), originally composed as a piano suite, memorializes friends who died in World War I, with each of the four movements dedicated to a different man.
The chamber orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Neal Gittleman, gave a studied performance of the neoclassical work that while not blatantly somber, has the reflective effect of looking at a photo album after a loved one has died — the pages are full of life and even celebration, but there is keen awareness of absence and loss.
Poulenc’s “The Story of Babar the Elephant” is just that: Music to accompany a reading of the beloved children’s book. First improvised at the piano, Poulenc reworked the whimsical piece for a narrator and small instrumental ensemble.
The Philharmonic’s performance, conducted by Assistant Conductor Patrick Reynolds, featured the orchestra’s principal musicians, with Gittleman narrating while illustrations from the original book were projected on a screen hanging to the back of the stage.
Lastly, Milhaud’s “Le Beouf sur le Toit” (The Ox on the Roof), which began in the composer’s mind as a soundtrack for a silent Charlie Chaplin film, had its fruition as a ballet staged by surrealist Jean Cocteau. The orchestra, with Gittleman back on the podium, offered a fittingly lively rendering of the hurly-burly piece.
The Chamber Series is designed to be a little more casual than the traditional Classical Series. There’s complimentary pizza before the Wednesday evening performance and doughnuts and coffee prior to the Thursday morning concert. Gittleman usually gives informative introductions to each work, and the program is shorter than a standard concert format. (The evening concerts run from 6:30 to about 8 p.m., while the morning programs go from 10 to about 11:30 a.m.) Tickets cost less, too.
There’s much to recommend it — in addition to the interesting programming and the consistently fine playing by the musicians. So, it’s sad to see the hall as sparsely filled as it was Wednesday night.
Like French wine or bread, it’s best shared.
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Breeders set free concert
The Breeders, including Dayton sisters Kim and Kelley Deal, will perform along with the band The National in a free concert Oct. 16 on Fountain Square in Cincinnati.
The music will be part of “Vote Early, Rock Late,” a rally from 5 to 8 p.m. in support of the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
To take advantage of early voting, which begins Sept. 30, chartered buses will be available to take registered Hamilton County, Ohio, voters to and from the Hamilton County Election Headquarters. Dayton concertgoers can just hang out and listen.
For more information, visit www.vote-ohio.net.
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Carole King concert review
DAYTON — Part black-tie benefit gala, part campfire sing-along, the Carole King performance Monday night, Sept. 22, at the Schuster Center left the nearly sold out audience smiling — and humming their way home — by concert’s end.
The occasion was the 20th anniversary Heart to Heart concert to benefit Kettering Medical Center’s Cardiac Services. A black-tie dinner for about 800, which concluded immediately before the show, accounted for the fancy attire among the near-capacity crowd of about 2,300. The sing-along part came later.
Following a brief introductory film about the local Heart to Heart event, its sponsors and purpose, the evening’s guest artist walked onto the Schuster stage without introduction or fan fare.
But she didn’t really need any. The audience knew this petite, curly-haired woman well — if not personally, nevertheless on a certain intimate level, where her music remains a powerful voice in the soundtrack of our youth.
I can be counted among those who wore out her copy of King’s breakthrough — and ground-breaking — “Tapestry” album, released in 1971.
And while she never played that record’s title track Monday evening, she eventually performed most of the songs off the touchstone release, including her opening number, “Beautiful.”
It starts: “You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face, and show the world all the love in your heart.” And concludes: “You’re gonna find, yes you will/ That you’re beautiful as you feel.”
If so, then King must be feeling great, because she looked simply fabulous. The blonde hair has turned silver, but her well-toned figure, attired to perfection in a little black dress and strappy silver heels, belied her concurrent status as a 66-year-old grandmother.
She sounded fabulous, too. Her distinctive voice carried through the hall with a fullness and force that her reputation gave no cause to expect. And her piano playing, with its touch of boogie-woogie and frequent three-note-chord bass harmonies had its own energy and vibrancy.
King’s piano style is almost as distinctive as her voice, and fans often recognized a hit song within a couple of introductory chords.
With the stage set up to look like a comfortable living room, a reprise of her 2005-06 Living Room Tour, King performed an abbreviated retrospective of her prolific career, including a medley of songs co-written (with former husband Gerry Goffin), and recorded by others in the 1960s: “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “One Fine Day,” “Up on the Roof,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” among others.
The sing-along began early, as the pull of the familiar lyrics became too inviting for the audience. An enthusiastic and upbeat King welcomed the outpouring, encouraging the group participation as the evening progressed.
The set included heartfelt renditions of “So Far Away,” “It’s Too Late,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “I Feel the Earth Move” and “You’ve Got A Friend.”
King also turned the spotlight on her musical collaborators, Nashville-based songwriter Gary Burr, who accompanied King on acoustic guitar, bass and vocal harmonies; and longtime sideman Rudy Guess on electric guitar and backup vocals. Burr sang lead on two of his own compositions: “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely,” recorded by Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera; and “Love’s Been a Little Bit Hard on Me,” recorded by Juice Newton.
While Guess struggled with some equipment problems, King apologized for the technical difficulties, add-libbing that Dayton hospitals — meaning Kettering Medical Center, the evening’s beneficiary — never experienced technical difficulties.
Which, of course, left the black-tied hospital crowd smiling all the more.
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Rhythm in Shoes to disband
The music and dance company Rhythm in Shoes has announced that the 2009-10 season will be its last.
“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just time,” managing director Noreen Willhelm said Monday, Sept. 22.
Co-artistic director Sharon Leahy said the troupe she co-founded in 1987 will devote “the next year and a half to celebrating all the work we’ve done, the people we’ve worked with and the community we’ve built. This has been an incredible run. We just decided that now’s the time to try something else.”
The company will open its 2008-9 season with performances Nov. 15 and 16 in the Young at Heart Series at the Victoria Theatre.
Other events will include the 10th annual “Holiday on Thin Ice” shows at Gilly’s nightclub, a musical adaptation of “Beowulf” called “Brother Wolf” with The Human Race Theatre Company, school programs with the Muse Machine, and a Cityfolk concert with world champion Lakota hoop dancers Dallas Chief Eagle and Jasmine Pickner.
The company’s unique mixture of tap and clog dance, traditional music and original tunes played live was “a vision born in a time when the performing arts were flourishing and innovation was valued,” Leahy said. “We’ve had many successful years both artistically and financially.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2377 or tmorris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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‘Full Monty’ was ‘No Monty’
The musical is called “The Full Monty” because of the scene late in the show when six working-class guys take it all off. The way it’s usually done is the moment they reach that display, the lights flash and then go out. You sort of see it, but maybe you don’t.
For probably the first time anywhere, the Broadway and London hit became “The No Monty” on Sunday, Sept. 14, at La Comedia Dinner Theatre in Springboro when the lights and everything else powered by electricity went out 15 minutes before the end of the show.
They didn’t come on again until early Thursday, Sept. 18, which presented La Comedia with some complications most theaters don’t have.
The men of “Monty” before they take it off
“We had to rent a tractor-trailer refrigerator truck and move all of our food into that. We filled the entire thing. I had never been in a dark freezer before Monday,” said marketing director Justin Walton, who was pressed into service as a mover along with the rest of the staff.
“We lost some food, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. All in all, it was quite an adventure.”
“Monty” has been a rollicking success, especially on September Friday “Ladies Nights” with $20 tickets. Walton said the crowd on Sept. 12 “was about 12 to 1 women and they were having a great time. We’ve also had a church group or two that weren’t quite sure what to make of things. That’s show business La Comedia-style.”
“The Full Monty” will continue through Oct. 26 on Wednesdays through Sundays at La Comedia, 765 W. Central Ave. Tickets for the show and dinner are $47 to $65 for adults at (800) 677-9505, (937) 746-4554 or www.lacomedia.com.
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DPO opens 2008-09 season in living ‘colour’
DAYTON — The Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra launched its 2008-09 season Thursday evening, Sept. 18., in a full “colour” concert.
With Music Director Neal Gittleman back on the Schuster Center podium for his 14th year in Dayton, the orchestra opened the program with “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” a piece written by French composer Paul Dukas in the late 19th century and made a pop cultural icon by Walt Disney in the 1940 animated film “Fantasia.”
The familiar work has a whimsical narrative quality — perhaps made more pronounced by the mental image of Mickey Mouse in the title role. Full of orchestral colors — or “colours,” as the DPO’s 2008-09 theme is spelled — the piece’s harmonic mood moves from the mellifluous to the malevolent in subtle measures.
The orchestra’s Thursday night performance emphasized both extremes, thoroughly capturing the work’s almost gleeful sense of drama and suspense.
The work’s pop cultural ties made it a fitting choice to open the orchestra’s season, which is filled with events that feature classical and orchestral music found in nontraditional contexts. A Disney animated classic is downright canonical next to such upcoming nonsubscription series programs as “Barbie at the Symphony” and “Play! A Video Game Symphony.”
Thursday night’s concert, however, remained more true to custom, following the opening piece with a piano concerto and, after intermission, Brahms’ first symphony.
The concerto, which Gittleman described beforehand as likely being “your favorite piano concerto you’ve never heard,” is rarely performed. The only piano concerto composed by the turn-of-the 20th century German-born pianist Mortiz Moszkowski, the work shares some coloristic and dramatic elements with Dukas’ “Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” which was written about the same time.
The concerto, however, is more grandiose, with each movement achieving its own range of moods and structural planks of introduction, development and conclusion. At times evoking the brightly cascading qualities of French Impressionism, the piece also featured lush Romantic passages that would feel at home in a Rachmaninoff composition.
Bringing the work to life was guest pianist Richard Dowling, who traversed the piece’s multiple moods and textures with equitable facility.
The evening concluded with Brahms’ first symphony, often referred to as “Beethoven’s 10th,” not only for its points of reference/homage, but also for its movement forward.
Structural integrity is at the core of Brahms’ oeuvre, yet the musical master’s sense of form serves a higher calling than mere construction. Heart and soul emerge in transcendent ways when his work is played with sympathy and insight — as it was Thursday evening.
By the time the orchestra reached the work’s concluding measures, they had taken us through nothing short of a transformational experience.
If this is the quality we get in the first concert after the summer hiatus, then we’re in for a spectacular year.
Thursday night’s program will be repeated Saturday, and the Brahms symphony will be the focus of the season’s first Classical Connections program Friday evening, also at the Schuster. For information or tickets, call (937) 228-3630.
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“Music Man” doesn’t quite ring up the sale
The object here isn’t to propose that Jason Collins lacks musical theater ability. He’s a talented song and dance man in the style of a George M. Cohan.
But Harold Hill? Spellbinder, smooth-talking operator and leading man? He’s not quite right for that part, just as his stage wardrobe seemed distractingly ill fitting Saturday night, Sept. 13, during opening weekend of the Dayton Playhouse’s production of Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man.”
It’s a good show. It’s a big show. Director Amy Brown’s cast of well over 50 is well coached and many of the musical numbers are very well done.
But even though it takes place in River City, Iowa, in 1912, the show isn’t called “River City.”
Nor is it called “Marian the Librarian.” If it was, it would need to be pointed out that Kelly Pekar, who plays the leading female role, is a bit young for the part, especially opposite Collins. She is gifted vocally and dramatically, even proving her mettle submitting to a kiss from sleazy anvil peddler Charlie Cowell (John Bukowsky). Her delivery of “Will I Ever Tell You?” and “Till There Was You” were lovely.
It’s called “The Music Man.” Hill, and therefore Collins, is the focus from the opening scene on the railroad car where his notoriety has preceded him among other salesmen.
One critic’s critiques about casting aside, there were no complaints from the sold-out audience. It’s also accurate to report that members of the barbershop quartet that croons “Ice Cream,” “Sincere” and “Lida Rose” got the most enthusiastic applause.
Others featured included: Renee Franck-Reed as Mrs. Paroo, Philip Smyth as Marcellus (who meshed nicely with Collins on “The Sadder But Wiser Girl”), Roger Watson as Mayor Shinn and Becki Norgaard as Eulalie.
The onstage orchestra conducted by Nancy Perrin blended amicably with the singers. The set is by Chris Harmon. Annette Looper’s choreography was simple and effective.
“Music Man” will continue through Sept. 28 at 1301 E. Siebenthaler Ave. Times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 to $16. Call (937) 424-8477.
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Rockettes kick off ticket sales for Nutter show
A contingent of Rockettes who flew into Dayton on Sunday, Sept. 14, to publicize the local premiere of their famed “Radio City Christmas Spectacular” felt like they were flying in a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
The legendary and leggy dancers were in a small prop-engine plane that landed during the height of the windstorm.
“It was a little bumpy after we came through the clouds,” said dancer and self-described nervous flyer Anna Richardson, who grew up in Westerville, Ohio.
During one scene in the show, which will be presented twice on Nov. 26 at Wright State University’s Nutter Center, the Rockettes make like reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh.
“Our antlers light up,” Richardson said during a press conference on Monday, Sept. 15. She was resplendent in red velvet jacket with white faux fur trim, glittery earrings, necklace and a headpiece topped with a red bow.
Presented for 75 years at Radio City Music Hall, the extravaganza is taking to the road in a new arena-sized version for the the first time. Dayton is one of 18 cities on the schedule that begins in Minneapolis and ends in Houston. There will also be performances in Cincinnati.
Single tickets tickets went on sale Monday, Sept. 15.
HOW TO GO What: “Radio City Christmas Spectacular.” When: 4 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 26. Where: Wright State University’s Nutter Center. Tickets: $47-$67. Call: (937) 775-4789 or Ticketmaster.
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Beavercreek’s “Rocky Horror” no fright
It’s just a jump to the left and then a step to the right.
Beginning the “Time Warp” is just that simple.
Staging the musical which contains that dance is a lot more challenging. If also fun and outrageous, “The Rocky Horror Show” is comic-book ridiculous and full of dramatic holes.
Fun and outrageous won out convincingly in the Beavercreek Community Theatre’s “Edge of the Creek” production, which opened Friday, Sept. 12, for a full house of ordinary-looking folks, in contrast to the gartered, fishnet-hosed, garishly made up, scantily clad and gender-bending characters paraded before them in the musical by Richard O’Brien that became a better known film.
In front, L to R: Lindsay Sherman, Ian K. Manuel, Emily L. Fultz and Mark Diffenderfer in “Rocky Horror”.
Director Doug Lloyd deserves much credit for that, though he got to stay in street clothes all night.
Master of ceremonies in heels, tights, skimpy corset, the briefest of briefs and dark curly wig was Chris Harmon, easily and vocally within his comfort zone as diabolical alien and equal opportunity seducer Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter.
Shown in silhouette during simultaneous Act 2 scenes that left little to the imagination, he lit a fire under nice Jane Weiss, played with screams and innocence lost by Megan Grabiel, and her intended, Brad Majors, portrayed in classic white Jockey shorts by Matthew Curry.
Others in a cast costumed by Stephanie Dickey and Karen Dickey included Mark Diffenderfer as Riff-Raff, Emily L. Fultz as Magenta, Lindsay Sherman as Columbia, sleek A.J. Kessler as a perfect physical creation (Rocky) who still needs a voice lesson or two, William “Kip” Moore as Eddie and Dean Swann as a fabulous, free-wheeling Dr. Scott.
Choreographed by Stacy Gear, the ensemble included Stephanie Bullard, Kelly Graham, Dana Kragick, Mark Reuter, Megan Vander Kolk and Titus Wolverton. Members of the perhaps too-civilized band were Katie Bakes, Patrick Berry, Dan Hall, John Hey, Charles Roth and Jason Smith.
“Rocky Horror” isn’t for the kids, or for those used to throwing liquids and objects during showings of the film. There’s adult language and innuendo.
Dressing up or down is just fine, though. Remaining performances are at at 8 p.m. and midnight Friday, Sept. 19; 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21, at 3868 Dayton-Xenia Road. Tickets are $11 and $12. Call (937) 429-4737.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2377 or tmorris@DaytonDailyNews.com.
Emily Fultz (L) as Magenta, A. J. Kessler as Rocky and Lindsay Sherman (R) as Columbia.
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X-Fest: The Aftermath
DAYTON — Blame Ike.
The so-named hurricane created the weather conditions Sunday, Sept. 14, that forced the early conclusion of X-Fest 13 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.
Organizers expected 20,000 to 25,000 people to attend the annual all-day modern rock concert presented by WXEG (103.9-FM). And a massive sea of bodies filled the concert site on the fairgrounds’ race track when officials pulled the plug about 2:45 p.m. — nearly five hours early, and before six of the 11 scheduled national acts had performed.
Patrons, who paid between $30-$40 (plus service fees) for a single ticket, initially stood in disbelief at the evacuation announcement. A second announcement about five minutes later prompted most ticketholders to begin heading slowly toward an exit.
A vocal crowd of several hundred, however, formed in front of the Main Stage, resistent to leaving the concert site. Various vulgar-laced chants began, and several plastic bottles flew through the air, with one hitting a speaker on stage.
Band crews scrambled to pack up musical equipment, while vendors closed concessions.
Eventually, a line of security staff formed a flank-like circle around the recalcitrant patrons and herded them toward the fairground gates on South Main Street. Before everyone was out, however, a large tree near the old Roundhouse fell and landed on a car parked nearby, sending security forces running to the site.
Once outside the fairground gates, many young people were temporarily stranded while they waited through increasingly strong winds to catch a bus or reach someone by cell phone to pick them up. Limited parking near the concert grounds forced most patrons to park several blocks away.
Whether there were any injuries to X-Fest patrons related to the weather was unknown at press time.
A notice on the radio station’s Web site late Sunday afternoon indicated that patrons should hold onto their ticket stubs. “(The station) 103.9 the X, and each of the X-Fest 13 bands who were unable to get their set in want to work together to make it right,” the posting said.
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Fans flock to X-Fest despite foul weather forecast
DAYTON — Wind-whipped dust clouds swirling through the ever-growing X-Fest crowd early Sunday afternoon at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds matched the ominous tones of the taped music used to introduce thrash metal band Five Finger Death Punch.
One of 11 national rock acts scheduled to perform as part of the annual day long music festival presented by WXEG (103.9-FM), the band took the stage about 1 p.m., following opening performances by Black Tide and Theory of a Deadman.
The Christian metal rock band RED, which also had been expected to perform early in the day, reportedly ran into trouble getting into town, and so was rescheduled to play at 5:15 p.m. on the event’s side Local Stage.
Gates opened at 11 a.m., but ticket-holders were still streaming in two hours later, disregarding weather forecasts calling for rain and possibly severe storms later in the afternoon.
Steve Kramer, WXEG’s program director, said that organizers were monitoring the weather, and would respond depending on the situation. “Safety first,” he said about the station’s plans.
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Guild’s ‘Boston’ honeymoon continues
After winning regional honors in southwest Ohio, The Dayton Theatre Guild’s spring 2008 production of the David Mamet play “Boston Marriage” has now earned several state prizes.
Cast member Elena Monigold (above, right), who played Claire in the script about intimate female relationships and the value of male providers, won an Excellence in Acting award at the Ohio Community Theatre Association state competition over Labor Day weekend in Columbus. Director Saul Caplan, set designer Blake Stuerman, and cast members Lisa Sadai (above, left) and Sarah Caplan earned designations of “outstanding.”
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Human Race brews up warm family comedy
The Human Race Theatre Company has challenged audiences often during its first 21 seasons. It launched the 22nd Friday, Sept. 5, with a conventional family comedy.
Equal measures of “Brighton Beach Memoirs” and “Late Nite Catechism,” Tom Dudzick’s crowd-pleasing 1994 play “Over the Tavern” tickled funnybones and left the full house with a warm glow.
Not just a Catholic version of Neil Simon’s trilogy, the two-act, 150-minute production nonetheless invites comparisons.
It’s set in a different ethnic enclave — blue-collar 1959 Buffalo, where 12-year-old Rudy Pazinski, two brothers and a sister who’s just starting to tease her hair and yearn for romance strive to survive growing pains in a Polish-American family that lives upstairs from dad Chet’s struggling tavern.
Despite the title, the bar plays little role in the proceedings. It casts a shadow in the form of a character named Pop who never appears, but has an undefined negative impact on Chet.
The focus is Rudy, played with effective and natural ease by Alexander McCracken as a funny, challenging, creative and basically good kid, despite collisions with strict Sister Clarissa (Joan Shepard), an almost stereotypical nun who turns out to be more than that.
Caroline Clarke, whose 16th birthday coincided with her professional stage debut on opening night, plays Annie. Trevor Coran is older brother Eddie and Drew Attaway is developmentally disabled little Georgie, whose comic timing is sometimes just too amazingly perfect.
Director Pamela Hill chose them wisely and has meshed them into a family.
The play is at its best in the comic scenes that include the kids. As mom Ellen, Margaret Knapp’s economic one-on-one scenes with them and Chet consistently resonate on a deeper level. The Pazinskis would be in a fix without her.
It’s not the fault of Jeff Williams’ portrayal that Chet’s resurrection from tense grouch to patient, caring papa late in Act 2 is underwritten and unconvincing. The transformation does pave the way for a satisfying final scene between Chet and Rudy.
“Over the Tavern” will continue through Sept. 21 on Tuesdays through Sundays at The Loft, 126 N. Main St. Tickets are $16.50-$36. Call (937) 228-3630 or order online at www.ticketcenterstage.com.
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