Native Gardens a Funny and Thoughtful Excursion at DalekoArts in New Prague

I have made the trek 40 minutes south of my home to DalekoArts in New Prague four times now, I have yet to go home disappointed. Native Gardens, their new production is no exception. Like Playwright Karen Zacarias’ The Book Club Play, which is playing for one more week at Theater in the Round, this comedy draws it’s humor from the characters. Humor that comes from who the characters are, and what their needs and wants are, is almost always richer and deeper than a series of one liners and pratfalls. Though, those can be a lot of fun too. Native Gardens is about themes we can all relate to on some level, race, privilege, what it means to be a good neighbor, and gardening. Themes like that can be serious stuff, particularly the gardening, but the scripts magic trick is in how entertaining it makes exploring these themes. It’s a cast that really owns these characters and a set that once again uses the DalekoArts smallish stage wonderfully. This one led to some interesting discussions afterwards, not just about race and privilege but of theater and it’s changing landscape.

Pablo and his pregnant wife Tania have just moved into their new home. Their neighbors Frank and Virginia are an older couple nearing retirement. Things start off friendly enough between the two couples with the sharing of wine and talk about their yards. Frank is hoping his flower garden will finally take first prize when the annual neighborhood eventis judged this Sunday. Pablo, impulsively invited the entire law firm he just joined to a BBQ at his house on Saturday. To get their yard in shape they want to take down an ugly chain link fence and put up a new wood fence. Both couples are in favor of the fence and everything seem to be going great until the surveyor’s come out and discover that Pablo and Tania’s yard actually extends beyond the fence line, in fact it’s happens to be on the other side of Frank’s prized flower bed. That’s when things get tense, to begin with but they escalate from there. Populated with characters we can relate to and understand, Zacarias script refuses to allow us simply to choose a side and sit back and watch the fireworks. Yes, you will likely lean towards one or other of the couples, but it’s hard to ignore that each side does make some valid points. It’s not all black and white, and it illustrates how we can all escalate things when the arguments become emotional. Things we might have been willing to compromise on, come off the table when we feel taken advantage of or disrespected. Karen Zacarias is becoming a favorite playwright in the span of a few weeks.

The cast is very strong particularly Raul Arambula as Pablo and Julie Ann Nevill as his neighbor Virginia. Arambula, has a rich character to play and he’s able to bring out each aspect of the character fully. An intelligent lawyer but also at times an angry young man, who’s tired of being taken advantage of. He’s reasonable until he’s pushed too far, but when that happens we see the the patience wear thin. Nevill plays the established white career woman who’s winding down to retirement and has grown accustomed to her place in the world and home. This perhaps felt like one of the most realistic characters, maybe she reminds me of people I know a little order than I. She is intelligent with that knack for twisting things to turn herself into the victim. What Neville succeeds in is not easy, she plays her so that we see that her entitlement is completely unseen by her. She plays the various cards of her arguments without irony. It’s what an actor needs to do with a character like this, she has to see her character as correct and play it that way. In doing so, she makes what could easily be a straight forward “Karen”, into a person we actually can empathize with at times. Abigail Chagolla as Tania starts off a little slow, before the conversations get heated there feels like there’s a little bit of line reciting rather than acting, but once we are ten minutes into the show and she gets something to do other than exposition, she blossoms. She has a great scene where she finally loses all patience with Virginia and curses her out in Spanish, you feel the heat in that moment and it’s electrifying. Of the four leads Rick Lamers as Frank struggles the most but it’s not a bad performance. It feels like the character is given some business to do that would be hard for anyone to make plausible. There’s a little boy quality to him with his gardening that just seems out of touch with his station in life and perceived place in society. Perhaps it’s the size of the stage working against him. For example, when he’s given a minute or two to show his joy of gardening, he has to content himself with wandering around the 10 x 10 space. His choices probably make it easier to stay busy in that time, but they sort of make us wonder if he’s all there or not.

Native Gardens was directed by Adlyn Carreras and she has a real feel for these characters and the situation. She finds the balance not letting the border dispute slide too far one direction or the other, realizing that staging it as she does, she can draw more people into the characters headspace. If we can see ourselves in both sides, maybe we can find the way towards compromise in our own lives. Robin McIntyre’s set design makes the best use of a stage that is a bit on the smaller size. As you can see in the photo at the top of the review the setting is the adjoining back yards of the two neighbors houses, both of which are well realized. My favorite element is the great oak tree in Pablo and Tania’s yard. It’s something that could have been just suggested by the dialogue and looks off stage or into the audience to indicate where it was located. I love that they actually built it and it looks great.

Native Gardens runs through February 26th at DalekoArts in New Prague, it’s a bit of a trek but it’s always worth it. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.dalekoarts.com/season-11/?wmTabs=native-gardens

Don’t want to miss a single review from The Stages of MN? You can subscribe and have every post sent directly to your email. To Subscribe on your computer: from the home page on the right, enter your email address and click subscribe. On your mobile device scroll to the bottom of the page and do the same. Also you can follow me on Facebook, search @thestagesofmn and click follow and on Instagram thestagesofmn. I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers, you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. Follow that group, It’s a great way to see reviews for shows I don’t get to or to get another bloggers take on one. We have some exciting things in the works for 2023 for the TCTB and our readers, follows us to be the first to know about those happenings. Including our Prom Date with the TCTB!! see below for details. Click on this link and select the March 4th matinee performance https://bit.ly/PromDateWithTCTB

PREVIEW: The MORLS Presents “Valentine of Death” at the Bryant-Lake Bowl February 19th!

Get set for another trip back to the past with one of my favorite monthly events. The Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society (MORLS) performing on stage at the Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater in Uptown. If you’ve never been to one of these events you are really missing out. When your grandparents were kids, TV was called radio. Back then, radio didn’t just consist of commercials with the occasional song being played to break up the monotony, it actually had stories. Now when I say stories, I don’t mean what your Grandma called her “stories”, although there were those as well. But there was all manner of shows just like there are on TV, or as they are known nowadays, as platforms. There were sitcoms, dramas, westerns, romances, and the staple of the MORLS performances, horror, mystery, suspense, and science fiction. What this group does is perform just like they did in the old days, acting out the roles while creating the sound effects and music live as they perform. These shows are fun for the whole family from the wee ones to the great grandparents. The best part of going to something like this with someone old enough to remember those golden days of yesteryear, is the conversations the performances spark on the ride home.

Like many of their recent performances this will be a combination or performing the script from an old radio broadcast and performing original scripts by the company members. This months Performance is entitled “Valentine Of Death” and here’s the shows rundown:

“Death Robbery” from Lights Out (1935): A mad scientist cheats death… but at what price? One of the only surviving scripts from Wyllis Cooper’s original Lights Out program and a chilling example of early radio horror.

“The Chaser” from The Weird Library (premiere): Joshua English Scrimshaw’s short but deadly adaptation of the classic John Collier story made famous by The Twilight Zone.

“All’s Love and War at the State Fair” from The Minnesota Goodbye (2021): The second installment of Tim Uren’s original series, The Minnesota Goodbye. The state fair is finally open after last year’s outbreak of polio and private detective Raymond Lake has been hired to protect a pig who has been receiving death threats!

One great advantage to the move to the Bryant-Lake Bowl Theater is that now you can enjoy food and beverage while taking in the program. The doors open at 6:30 with the show beginning at 7:00 PM. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.ghoulishdelights.com/. Seating is general admission. I’ll be there so if you come make sure to say hi and join us. You can also find information about their podcast at the link above and how to be become a Patreon supporter with all the honors and benefits that entails.

I am also a member of the Twin Cities Theater Bloggers, you can read roundups of shows by my colleagues and I on facebook @TwinCitiesTheaterBloggers. Follow that group, It’s a great way to see reviews for shows I don’t get to or to get another bloggers take on one. We have some exciting things in the works for 2023 for the TCTB and our readers, follows us to be the first to know about those happenings. Including our Prom Date with the TCTB!! see below for details. Click on this link and select the March 4th matinee performance https://bit.ly/PromDateWithTCTB

Well-Behaved Women is Superb at Elision Playhouse

Well-Behaved Women is really a concert more than a play. The seven performers take on the roles of nineteen different women throughout history as they perform their songs, so in that way, it’s more than a concert. Perhaps the best comparison might be Six, another performance that features historical women performing, as if in concert. While this isn’t Six, it’s still damn good. There have been some really interesting and inspirational works in the last few years giving voice to historical women. From Six to Theatre Pro Rata’s 46 Plays For America’s First Ladies, and now Well-Behaved Women. There is something deeply satisfying about hearing from those who were overshadowed for so long. It’s refreshing to see narratives being told through the female lens with regularity. The diversity of perspectives is what keeps theater fresh and feeds creativity. Of the 15 songs performed during the performance there may have been one or two that didn’t have the potential to make your musicals playlist. Strong compositions from the creator Carmel Dean. Sometimes with a particular composer you get a sense of their style, but Dean seems able to write songs in any genre, all unique and make an impression. Of course the downside of just singing 15 songs one after the other in 80 minutes is that by the time it’s over, all you can remember of the first ones were that you enjoyed them. But those are good problems to have.

When there is no plot other than those contained within each characters song, there’s not a lot one can say to give you an idea of what to expect. The best I can do is tell you that you will hear 15 good to great songs sung by some phenomenal singers. You’ll learn about some women you were unfamiliar with and others you know well. Some of the songs will make you laugh like “In the Beginning” sung by Christine Wade in the character of Eve, first among women. Though, for my money the show stoppingly funny, “The Only Girl at the Table” sung by Serena Brook as Mary Magdalene, is the one that had me laughing the most. But there are also songs that move and inspire you such as the final three songs “Lady Liberty“, “Order in the Court“, and “Still I Rise“. And then there are songs that are just beautiful to listen to such as “Yo Simplemente Soy” sung by Estefania Sedarski as artist Frida Kahlo. There’s so much to take away from this show, it’s the kind I wish I had time to see again with my daughter, but this one isn’t going to be around for very long so get your tickets now.

Well-Behaved Women runs through February 18th at the elision Playhouse in Crystal. For more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.elisionproductions.com/

A Soldier’s Play Part of Broadway @ the Ordway but Performed at The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul

A Soldier’s Play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1982 and the 2020 Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. It’s a celebrated drama, that explores race in the Armed Services in the early 1940’s, it’s also a whodunnit. More importantly, it’s a reminder that no matter how far we think we’ve come as a society, too much remains the same. I suspect that as powerful as this play seemed when it debuted Off-Broadway in 1981, that it’s message has only become more meaningful today. This touring productions features a strong cast that doesn’t hammer home the themes but plays realities and allows the ideas to come to light on their own. It’s the first time I’ve seen a play at the Fitzgerald Theater. At first I thought it was odd that the Ordway was presenting the play at the Fitzgerald, but having experienced A Soldier’s Play, it was an inspired move. This show would drown in the wonderfully spacious Ordway Center, it needs the more intimate space that the Fitzgerald provides.

“In 1944, on a Louisiana Army base, two shots ring out. A Black sergeant is murdered. And a series of interrogations triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America.”
From the Ordway Website

As with any whodunnit, one doesn’t want to spoil any of the mystery so the Ordway synopsis will suffice. Besides what Charles Fuller’s play is really about is race, it uses the murder mystery genre and the Army setting during World War II to explore that. The most shocking elements are not who killed Sergeant Waters, but the victims philosophy, and the realities of being black meant in that time. When we learn that the Army really doesn’t plan to do anything about the murder, as it’s a black sergeant and when we see the way the soldiers under his command just accept that this is how the world is, we are shocked. Then, we realize the similarities to what we read every week in the newspaper headlines. As a white man, I think of the reality I’ve only come to understand in the last decade, that in our world today, being pulled over for a traffic violation is a completely different situation for a black person than it is for me. I sit in the theater and am shocked at what I’m hearing, and then I’m disgusted when I realize how little we’ve changed. This is a powerful play that deserves all of it’s accolades and deserves your attention and attendance. It deals with hard things, in a matter of fact way, because that’s what they were then. We see it is as unconscionable, but the sad truth is, this is who much of our country was, and which far far far too many of our fellow citizens are still today. Fuller’s masterful blending of a really interesting mystery with social commentary is seamless. We don’t feel preached to, we feel as if the blindfold has been lifted and we can see the shocking truth, and it’s vital that we don’t turn away.

The remarkable ensemble cast of soldiers is led by Norm Lewis as Captain Davenport, a black officer who has been assigned to investigate the murder, and Eugene Lee as the murdered Sergeant Waters. Lewis is the hero and he gets to outthink his fellow white officers and beat them at their own game. He isn’t naive, but he also isn’t going to let the way the world is stand in the way of finding the truth. Lee is Shockingly good as Waters, whom we see in flashbacks, when Davenport conducts his interrogations. Whether playing a scene as the strict taskmaster or the letting his inner poisons out, Lee shows us many faces, some hard, others downright ugly. He’s not afraid to show us that hate and ugliness is color blind. While he’s playing the victim, he also plays perhaps the biggest villain of the piece. The rest of the cast is great as well, the members of Waters’ company of soldiers all have an easy give and take that really sells them as a group of soldiers who have been serving together for awhile. Of particular note is Sheldon D. Brown as Private C.J. Memphis, he gets a few moments to show off his vocal chops as well, making you almost wish it was a musical so you could hear more of his soulful voice.

The Production is directed by Kenny Leon who opens it in almost total darkness with the group of soldiers making music with their feet, hands, and voices while on the catwalk above the barracks we witness Waters’ murder. It’s a powerfully staged moment, that shocks the audience from the very start, letting us know that there are going to be some jolts along the way. The set design by Derek McLane and lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes wonderfully compliment each other. It’s deceptively simple looking but brilliantly executed, sliding panels slightly alter the scene as needed and there are some unexpected elements particularly at the end which feels like a splash of much needed cold water to sober you up as you begin to rejoice at the crime being solved.

A Soldier’s Play runs this week only closing February 12th so get your tickets fast! The Fitzgerald must seat less than a quarter of what the Ordway does so I would expect some performances may well sell out. For more information and to purchase your tickets go to https://ordway.org/events/a-soldiers-play/

Hello, Dolly! at Theater Latté Da in North Minneapolis

T. Mychael Rambo and Regina Marie Williams. Photo by Dan Norman

Theater Latté Da presents Hello, Dolly! the 1969 film version of which was the most expensive musical ever at the time and was responsible for ending big budget musicals due to it’s financial failure. So from one of the biggest musicals ever they have staged an intimate small call musical. Does Hello, Dolly! work in a scaled down version? Yes, at least as well as any version would. Latté Da has done what they could to make the show relevant with a wonderfully diverse cast and a focus in their design on businesses owned by BIPOC. If you are a Hello. Dolly! fan, you are going to enjoy this production I’ve no doubt. If you are not, this isn’t going to change that. I’m luke warm on the show myself. My first exposure was the touring production that was part of the Hennepin Theatre Trust Broadway series a few years back, which I enjoyed, probably just as much for the spectacle as for the show itself. This production is short of spectacle, but has more heart, and on that emotional level I connected more than I expected to.

Hello, Dolly! the musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Music & Lyrics by Jerry Herman was based on the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder. The central character is Dolly Levi, a widow who makes her income primarily as a matchmaker, but she can also provide pretty much any service you need, and she even has the business cards to prove it. Dolly has decided that rather than proceed with the match she’s made for wealthy Hay and Feed store owner Horace Vandergelder she will marry him herself. She has also been engaged by a young artist, Ambrose Kemper, who wants to marry Vandergelder’s niece Ermengarde, but her uncle forbids it. But forget about them, the show does for most of it, these characters are so inconsequential, that it’s a wonder someone didn’t think to cut them altogether. There are two other couples who’s romantic inclinations are of much greater interest. Vandergelder’s two clerks Cornelius and Barnaby who never get to do anything, decide in the bosses absence to fake an accident that forces them to close the store so they can have one evening off to live a little. All of these characters head into New York City from Yonkers. Vandergelder to propose to Mrs. Irene Molloy, Cornelius and Barnaby to have an adventure and kiss a girl! The other two to learn to dance or something, don’t worry you won’t care. Lastly, Dolly to orchestrate everything to her satisfaction. There is entertainment in Dolly’s manipulation of everything and the frustration of the Miserly Vandergelder with the way things are being manipulated. But the heart of the whole show frankly is Cornelius and Irene Molloy.

China Brickey and Reed Sigmund Photo by Dan Norman

Regina Marie Williams stars as Dolly Levi with T. Mychael Rambo as Horace Vandergelder. Williams brings a fresh soulfulness to the musical numbers which is nice. Performance wise I felt like the comedic nature of the character seemed out of her comfort zone. Having been stunned by her recent dramatic turn as her Prospera at the center of the Tempest last winter, perhaps I’m too accustomed to her powerful intensity, but it seemed to me there was a playful mischievousness missing from the character. Rambo is more at home with his role and like Williams, he shines when he gets a chance at the end to really lean into the soulfulness of the songs. My favorites though, were China Brickey and Reed Sigmund as Cornelius and Molloy. To my mind there are two great songs in the show, “Hello, Dolly!”, and the best “It Only Takes a Moment”. When Brickey and Reed sing “It Only Takes a Moment” my heart opened right up and I got all warm inside. Reed is wide eyed and full all optimism playing Cornelius as a good hearted everyman in over his head. Brickey shows us her character slowly being won over by his innocent charm. She’s more intelligent, more worldly, she is a woman who thought that love ended for her when her late husband passed and she is now just looking for a match that will be comfortable. Watching Brickey we see that resignation slowly melt away as she falls for Cornelius. Also delightful are Anna Hashizume as Minnie, Molloy’s shop girl and friend and Brian Kim McCormick as Barnaby, they make another cute couple and one I’d like to have seen get more of storyline. These four performers are the heart and the fun of the show, they have the most romantic and comical scenes, and their chemistry and timing are perfect together. Lastly, in a multitude of roles is Minnesota treasure Sally Wingert. She doesn’t get a lot of time in any one role, but she brings something, usually very funny, to each of the different ensemble characters she plays.

Kelli Foster Warder directs and choreographed the production. In terms of direction it does feel like this wasn’t an idea that fully came together, the casting and the decision to have the shop signs reflect those of actual business owned at the time by BIPOC are excellent ideas. The problem is that the script itself doesn’t really give you anything more to work with. Warder cannot add lines of dialogue or change the plot. There are some shows that just changing what you focus on or highlighting a certain aspect in the design can change the entire show fundamentally, Hello, Dolly!, not one of those it seems. The choreography for being such a pared down production is really quite entertaining. The ensemble has some really gifted dancers, I was particularly impressed by Dayle Theisen and Kyle Weiler. Sanford Moore is the Musical Director, his five piece band provides the exceelance we’ve come to expect from Theater Latté Da. The period costumes by Rich Hamson are fantastic, less so the sets by Eli Sherlock, which were functional, but looked a bit plain compared to the costumes.

Hello, Dolly! runs through March 19th at Theater Latté Da for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.latteda.org/hello-dolly

Noises Off at Lakeshore Players in White Bear Lake

This is the third production of Noises Off that I have seen, not including the 1992 film version, and it never ceases to amaze me. It’s a highwire act of a show requiring the actors to perfect the timing of everything down to the split-second. I was excited to see the show again as it’s a favorite, but I wasn’t sure how a community theater would pull off the elaborate set requirements and frankly, that timing. I’m happy to confirm this production is as good as any I’ve ever seen. This spectacular cast doesn’t miss a beat even when those beats begin to come at three beats per second. The New York Post wrote that Noises Off is “The funniest farce ever written” and they may be right. The only show that gives it a run for it’s money that I’ve seen is The Play That Goes Wrong. Interesting that each is center on a theatre production. Laugh for laugh, and for sheer entertainment you cannot top Noises Off at Lakeshore Players. If you aren’t laughing, check your pulse, I’m afraid you may be dead.

The play was written by Michael Frayn in 1982 inspired, according to Wikipedia, by watching a production of one of his earlier farces from the wings. He observed that it was even funnier backstage and resolved that at some point he should write a farce from behind the scenes. What is interesting and what makes the play work so well is that we see the first act of the play three times. The first is the Tech/dress rehearsal, where we see the play from the point of view of the audience. Frayn sets the first Act during rehearsal so that they can start and stop the play within a play. This serves two purposes, first we get to know the actors and their little idiosyncrasies and what their relationships are to each other. We have the usual humor about theatrical types and the frustration of the director trying to corral all of the elements to get through the show once before it actually opens to the public. The second reason is that by stopping and redoing lines of dialogue and discussing what is happening and why within the play, the plot and each characters blocking is cemented in the audience’s mind. It’s important that we have a clear understanding of what is happening onstage in Act 1, because during the intermission the set is completely rotated and we now see the performance four weeks in into the run from backstage. We have to know what is supposed to be happening onstage to really appreciate the humor of the shenanigans backstage where relationship dramas have much of the cast at each other’s throats. Finally after a second intermission in which the set is again rotated so we are seeing it from the audience’s point of view, we see an actual performance of the play three months into, and thankfully, near the end of it’s run. Again, if we didn’t have a clear understanding of what was supposed to be happening in the play within the play, we would be as lost as the poor fictional audience who is experiencing the play for the first time.

With a true ensemble cast such as this you have to choose who was good and who was bad and leave not mention those in the middle or you’d have a ten page review. The problem with this cast is, nobody is bad, in fact nobody is even in the middle, they are all fantastic. So I’m just going to say something about a couple of the performers that did something a little unique from what I’d seen before. Jeffrey Nolan, who plays Tim the Stage Manager, is also the understudy for the male roles in the play brought a different kind of energy to the role. He gets some neat bits that are like silent comedy routines between acts and he plays the roles constant exhaustion in such a way that you feel the character will be scarred for life after this production. Waverly McCollum, plays Brooke the bombshell but inexperienced actress. McCollum plays her to great comic effect as if she’d been cashing in lobotomy coupons. She’s hilarious when just standing still, partly because she’s standing still eating her costume. All of the performers demonstrate a knack for physical comedy and comedic timing, but both Nolan and McCollum get a chance to raise it to another level. Watching Nolan try and set the stage with his last ounces of energy at the beginning of Act 3, or McCollum descend the stairs in Act 1 trying to avoid stepping on her lost contact lens, are moments of comedic brilliance.

Director Greta Grosch puts her comedic sensibilities as a member of Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop to good use. The staging is fairly well laid out in the script for Noises Off, but it’s her sure sense of what will work character wise that makes this familiar show seem fresh and vibrant. Hats off to Dave Pust for his Set Design. Again, the set is fairly well set by the needs of the script, it varies very little from production to production so it’s in the execution that Pust’s talents shine through. The entire set breaks away into three sections so that it can be pulled apart turned around and reassembled facing the other way, which it does very smoothly and in full view of the audience. Grosch wisely has the actors stay in character whenever they can been seen between acts adding to the feel of a behind the scenes story. Alyssa Kraft’s Lighting Design complete with intentional miscues is spot on as are the props by Brandt Roberts, Costumes by Bronson Talcott, and Sound Design by Nathaniel Glewwe.

Noises Off runs through February 12th at Lakeshore Players Theatre for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://www.lakeshoreplayers.org/noises-off-2022

These Old Shoes is Simply Beautiful At Illusion Theater

Now, nearly through my fiftieth year, I am very aware that there are more years behind then there are ahead. As such my mind turns more and more frequently to the past and things that might have been. I also think about the future and what that holds for me, for my wife, for my remaining parents. Transatlantic Love Affair’s These Old Shoes is a stirring and creative exploration of memory and aging, of love and life. Transatlantic Love Affair the theatre company is billed as a Physical Theatre Ensemble, as such there is an emphasis on the body as the primary instrument in the production of this theatre piece. There are no sets, no props, no costumes to speak of, just the actors bodies and voices to create their characters. I was under the mistaken impression that this was a musical. There is music composed and played on guitar by Jeff A. Miller throughout the play and there is one song that the cast sings called “Echoes and Memories” which was created by The Champagne Drops. It’s a stripped down performance that has done away with much of the usual theatrical conventions to discover that what remains is all that is needed to create a very moving and beautiful work of art.

The show was conceived and Directed by Diogo Lopes and created by the Transatlantic Love Affair ensemble who perform the piece. The show has a central storyline that takes place in the present and in flashback. In the present Jim is preparing, with the help of his Granddaughter, to move out of his home and into a retirement community. In the past we see his first love and how their story played out. That is the main narrative thrust but it is filled with little moments about the other residents at the retirement home. We see them in their daily routines, and we also get glimpses into their pasts as well. This is an opportunity to reflect on the way we change throughout our lives. This reminds us that while they may seem like eccentric old characters steeped in comic relief, they, and in fact we, were young once. No person is the simply what you see at the end of their lifetime, we all have pasts, we all have things that would surprise our grandchildren as much as they surprise us. What’s amazing is how fully we feel we get to know these different characters in a show that runs only 75 minutes.

The characters of Jim and his first love Marjorie are played by Derek Lee Miller and Peytie McCandless. Their transformations from young to old and back again in a matter of seconds are so perfectly subtle, when they are older they get just that little bit smaller, they walk a little slower, it’s simple but effective. This night Jim’s granddaughter was played by the understudy Leslie Vincent. She unlike most played two completely different characters and they moved and sounded completely different. If they actually went off stage, changed costumes and put a wig on, you’d never guess they were the same performer. The entire ensemble is clearly very in tune and in control of their bodies, illustrating what they mean by Physical Theatre Ensemble. They are Heather Bunch, Chasya Hill, and Eric Nelson. And my favorite of the group Allison Vincent, who actually gets to play a lot of different characters, most of them wonderful bits of comic relief that lighten the mood and provide a laugh just when you need it. The final member of the group is Jeff A. Miller who as noted composed and performs the music during the show. He perfectly scores everything that is taking place, making the opening sequence as we see the various characters getting ready in the morning play like scenes from a silent movie.

These Old Shoes is not a show that I think my kids would get much out of. I suspect you need to be at least in your mid 30’s and probably at 40 for it to connect in all the ways it did for me. I don’t think anyone would leave not feeling that their time was well spent, I’m just saying if you are 40 or older you’ll likely fall in love with this show, I certainly have. For more information about the show and to purchase tickets go to https://www.illusiontheater.org/transatlantic-love-affairs-these-old-shoes.