Light Up The Sky
Allen Contemporary Theatre
Reviewed by: David Ellivloc
Light Up The Sky is a 1948 Moss Hart comedy in three acts about a great love. Specifically, the love that those who toil in the Theatre, or merely hang on around its edges, have for Theatre and each other. But be warned this love story is no fairy tale and the often-manic love-hate nature of this grand affair called Theatre is on full display, warts and all. Allen Contemporary Theatre (ACT) delivers a rollickingly fun and furious production that is chock-full of all the nuts that make up Theatre.
The events in the play all occur in a time span of less than 12 hours and are centered on the out-of-town tryout of a brand-new play by a first-time playwright. All the action takes place in the leading lady’s lavish suite in the Ritz-Carlton, which is right across the street from the theater in Boston. As the action begins, Miss Lowell, played by Caitlyn Cole, who we learn is ghost-writing the leading lady’s autobiography, is typing away with only the company of said diva’s parrot, JJ, a wisecracking but not foul-mouthed fowl. Caitlyn Cole’s Miss Lowell is an eager and earnest young newcomer to the world of professional theater, although she acted in college theatricals. Bursting into the room comes the new play’s director, Carleton Fitzgerald, who is imbued by David Noel with a delightfully breathless emotionality. Listen for Fitzgerald’s catch-phrase descriptor of his emotional state, which becomes funnier with each rendition by Noel. To further the fun, Costume Designer Alison Kingwell has Noel wrapped in a precious velvet smoking jacket, an over-the-top outfit that matches Noel’s flamboyance as he explains “magic time,” the last precious hours before the first performance of a new play, to Miss Lowell.
Not long after he breezes in, Fitzgerald breezes out but, almost immediately, there’s another knock at the door. This time, Miss Lowell is met with Frances Black, the producer’s young wife and an ice-skating star in her own right who, as played by Wendi Evetts, saucily and sexily glides across the stage as she might the ice, all while talking a mile a minute in quite an urban patois. The breeziness continues as Frances quickly breezes out and is almost immediately followed by yet another knock at the door. Here we have Moss Hart’s alter-ego, Owen Turner, an extraordinarily successful Broadway playwright. As Turner, Kenneth Fulenwider has clearly experienced the rewards and pains of a playwright and has sympathy for all who struggle to create theater, although he can’t resist a touch of Schadenfreude that it is someone else’s play being judged tonight. Before he can breeze out, Turner is met by the stiff wind of our diva’s stage mother, Stella Livingston, played by Sue Goodner with a take no prisoners purposefulness that is a hoot. Just watch Goodner take off Stella’s fur upon entering and you’ll know exactly what the others are up against. We learn that somehow Stella has managed to see the last rehearsal the night before and as a result she needs a stiff good luck drink, which she takes with her as she exits to her bedroom off the suite’s living room.
The young ex-truck driver turned playwright, Peter Sloan, played by the boyishly handsome Matthew Strauser, enters the suite. Strauser’s Sloan is so calm and confident that Fulenwider’s Owen questions if the play can be opening in a scant three hours. Next into the fray is the money man, producer Sidney Black, who as played by Jeff York is a fast-talking mobbed-up Midas of a fixer who has turned everything he has touched into gold. York convinces as Black when he explains his interest in Sloan’s play is not mercenary but incendiary, as he says they are “sticking a Roman Candle into the tired face of show business tonight.” Kudo’s to York who is excellent and who I learned, after the performance, took on the role after the rehearsal process was well along.
And where, oh, where is the leading lady of this new play? Why she’s been getting a massage in the suite’s main bedroom from Sven, played by Cody Alexander Tabor, who abruptly yet succinctly interrupts the action as he exits the bedroom and breezes out of the suite. Tabor also plays a Shriner, a Policeman, and lastly William H. Gallagher, who pops into the Third Act and was brilliantly brought to life by Tabor. This last role for Tabor is not credited in the program and was announced in the pre-curtain speech on the night I attended, so a special shout out to him for fully realizing this character in what I suspect was a truncated rehearsal period.
Swirling onto the stage like a chiffon tornado is Katie Macune’s Irene Livingston, the new play’s leading lady if ever there was one. Macune’s blonde hysterics as Irene are very entertaining and keep the pace popping. Frances, Stella, and Carleton, each having dressed to the nines for the big opening, separately come back to the suite. Finally, our diva’s husband, Scott Hickman’s charmingly stiff Wall Street investor, Tyler Rayburn, shows up completing the Theatre tribe. There’s just time for a totally over the top toast from Noel’s Carleton before Act One ends for the characters to head off to the Theatre across from the hotel.
To learn how things turn out you’ll need to buy a ticket and attend, but I promise, you will be happy that you did! Acts two and three are packed with laughs, surprises, and suspense. Is the play within a play, which we never see but entitled The Time Is Now, a hit or a flop or something in between? What will happen to our dysfunctional Theatre family? You’ll be on the edge of your seat unless you’ve fallen off it while laughing, perhaps at one of the many comedy zingers that Goodner gleefully lands in the final acts.
Finally, here’s some recognition for some of the real-world Theatre folks doing jobs that didn’t rate a character in Hart’s play but are necessary for every production of it. Bill Wash, Set Designer/Master Builder, has filled the stage at ACT with the huge, elegant living room of a plush suite, which is stunning. As mentioned, Alison Kingwell is the Costume Designer, and she has all the Theatre folks decked out in evening and day clothes that are elegant and oh so appropriate for the period. Meanwhile, Kingwell has distinct looks for all of Tabor’s characters, including the Shriners. Sara Jones is the Props Designer, and that Ritz-Carlton suite is one decked-out palace of luxury living. Maddy Maslow, Stage Manager, made the set changes quick and efficient and wrangled any errant actors who might have needed wrangling as no actors were seen wandering about. Dave Westbrook, Fight Choreographer, kept everyone safe and made it all look real. And of course, if you cannot see and hear the play its not much of a production and here Lighting Design is ably managed by Melinda Cotton and Greg Cotton while Jason Rice delivered as the Sound Designer.
Director Carol M. Rice’s own love of Theatre and the joyous struggle it can be is what drew her to this play, along with her love for Theatre people. Come Light Up The Sky with Carol M. Rice and all the marvelous folks at ACT who have made this Theatre happen. You might come to the theater for the laughs, but you keep coming to the theater for the love. Rice’s production is brimming with both!
Accessible seating: Yes
Hearing Devices Available: No
Sensory Friendly Showing: No
Audience Rating: G
Production Sound Level: Comfortable
Noises and Visuals to Know About: No
See you at the theater!
David Ellivloc
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