Theater Review: 'Ruddigore' cast rises to the challenge BY SARAH D'ESTI MILLER This year's Summer Savoyards production of Ruddigore is dedicated, not surprisingly, to the late Alan Mica, who was a fixture with many arts groups in Greater Binghamton, but perhaps none as much as Summer Savoyards. I daresay the show would have done him proud. The cast of Ruddigore is one of the stronger ones Savoyards have put together in recent years. Andrea Gregori does a fine job as Rose Maybud. She delivers every line loud and clear, and her movement and expressions are solid -- she hits every laugh and clearly knows how to work the material. The only problem was that her singing was difficult to understand and at times she had some pitch issues, but she established her character so well you knew what she was singing even if you couldn't understand the words. Kevin Lash returns to Savoyards again as Ruthven Murgatroyd, and his program bio said this may be his last show with the group, which is too bad. Lash does an agreeable -- and perhaps more important, understandable -- British accent, is a solid singer and has a full understanding of the comedy and the timing required to pull it off. As Richard Dauntless, Steven Nanni, too, is a good fit for the swaggering singing sailor. His singing and acting are solid, although, like Gregori, he had a few diction rough spots. I won't give away his flirtation scene, but it was extremely funny. Speaking of extremely funny, Gregory Keeler is hilarious as Sir Despard Murgatroyd. In fact, he gets laughs even before he says a word, and when he does speak, every line is clear as a bell and ditto when he sings. Keeler also has some of the best contemporary topical dialogue add-ins I have heard in a while. But to make a good performance even better, Keeler's Despard has been cast with Patricia Raube-Wilson's Mad Margaret. Raube-Wilson has a gorgeous voice, superb timing and stage presence to spare. According to her bio, she is returning to the stage after a 19-year hiatus and wow, is that good news. If you want to see a perfect example of first-degree scene stealing, check out Raube-Wilson and Keeler during the Act I finale. Barbara DeShane, who plays Dame Hannah, is a newcomer to the Savoyards stage, and seems to be one of the weaker links in the cast, but her bio lists no previous credits and, hey -- we all have to start somewhere. There were small roles, too, for William Clark Snyder (he didn't disappoint) and newcomer Jenny Gac (neither did she) and a speaking role for Julia Mahar (she made the most of her lines). Stephen Dell'Aversano wears two hats for this show -- he plays the ghost Sir Roderic Murgatroyd and he is the costumier. I usually take a lot of heat for raving about the costumes, but too bad. They're part of the show. Once again, Dell'Aversano has outdone himself, particularly with Rose Maybud's wedding dress and the ancestors' costumes, each representing a different century, more or less, of British period costume. It is incredible that these costumes are part of a community theater/volunteer production. As Roderic, Dell'Aversano shows he is as capable at performing as he is at costuming, and his deadpan (no pun intended) delivery was terrific. His big scene was part of some excellent stagecraft, too. The Act II lighting and wind effects when the portraits exit their frames were excellent. In fact, it was kind of creepy. It's hard to say with these productions who is responsible for what because a lot of it is teamwork. But the show hardly drags (and Ruddigore certainly could), and there are no awkward or visually dissonant moments, so director Tina Opie has done her job. As for the orchestra, under the direction of Barbara Fuller, they did a good job, save for the occasional spots of wonkiness. Ruddigore clocks in at about three hours, but it's an entertaining three hours with some big laughs and great moments. © 2004 Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin |
