The Adventures of Tom Sawyer A new musical on Broadway can be a welcomed affair with rave reviews, buffo box office, and endless lines clamoring to get into the theater, or it can be met by horrors and screams so loud that you'd think they'd just given birth to Rosemary's baby. It could be the luck of the theater gods, the climate of the audience's tastes, the wrath of the critics, or the performances. However, if you dig down to the inner core, it most likely has to do with the book and score. The songs must be tuneful, hummable, with toe tapping enjoyment. The lyrics must serve as characterization analysis, inner dialogue, and move the plot along. The book needs to fasten songs, characters, and subplots together. It must be moving, funny, and exciting. But mostly it must make the audience feel and care for the characters and storyline. Alas, this is not the case with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which is being given its regional premiere by ICT Mainstage in Irving, Texas. Tom Sawyer did not have a welcoming birth on the great white way. The musical began previews at the elephantine Minskoff Theatre on March 27, 2001. It opened on April 26th, where upon it received blistering reviews and closed after 21 performances, at a loss of millions. That season also saw the debut of The Full Monty and The Producers , both becoming monster hits. So did Tom, Huck, and Injun Joe really have a shot against those giants? Don Schlitz, a Grammy-winning composer of country songs including Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler," composed the score for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. But the score he penned is tedious, colorless, and has no emotional strength whatsoever. It is devoid of solid character development and inner dialogue. The lyrics are, at best, elementary and commonplace. The score is layered in southern fried, banjo plucking country music. After awhile, the songs start running together like cold gravy and are unmemorable. It's sort of an amalgamation of Big River, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and country. Sadly, this was one of Ken Ludwig's last penned books before he passed away. He's had much better critical success with the books for Crazy For You and Lend Me A Tenor. His book for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer gasps, wheezes, and expires before curtain call. Characters come and go and others drop off never to be fully developed. You get a sense that Ludwig tried to stuff as much as he can from the Twain book into the musical, but never fully succeeding. Of the 24 songs, there are three that are actually quite lovely to listen to: the touching ballad "Raising A Child," which is sung by Aunt Polly (Kimberly Ann Smith) and Judge Thatcher (Scott Bardin); a rousing company number called "It's In The Bible"; and a sweet, innocent ballad sung by Tom (Chris Winterstine) and Becky (Kayla Carlyle) titled "To Hear You Say My Name." Thankfully, we have Musical Director Lee Harris in the orchestra pit. This wonderfully talented director brings florid life to the score. With his five fellow musicians, Harris is able to give the music robust energy. From Dave Yonley's violin to the banjo plunking of Deena Gaskell, the music coming from the pit sounds festive, pleasurable, and gives the score much more life that what is on paper. Harris' musical direction actually pushes the pace and energy along, never allowing it to wane. His piano accompaniment for the ballads is soft, elegant, and soothing all at once. Harris' work is immensely impressive in this production. Director Andi Allen achieves charming success in creating festive performances from the majority of her actors. This talented director uses every square inch of Paul Fiorella's one unit set of large platforms, stairs, and a mini-walkway. She keeps the pace brisk. What is most impressive is how she was able to bring out solid characterizations from the teen actors. She gives them layers of emotions to express. This is a large company, but Allen handles the staging and blocking with ease. Adam Lozuk's lighting design has some creative fun with the mood creations for the cave scenes, while Tory Padden's costumes have a quaint, country flair to them. She has a nice color scheme of earth tones sprinkled throughout. This cast is able to rise above the lackluster material and deliver a pleasurable evening of theater. The majority of the company delivers the goods as performers, but several do go beyond that and become standouts. Teenager Chris Winterstine does a delightful job as Tom Sawyer, the rebellious youngster who would rather fish and roam the caves than go to school or bible study. Winterstine's energy and carefree aura fit Tom's characteristics. The young actor has a few pops, squeaks, and off notes in some of his songs, but for the majority of the evening he holds his own against the adults. He is both winsome and a pleasure to watch on stage. As Tom's best pal Huck Finn, Justin A.P. Jones provides a farcical, waggish performance. His facial expressions are quite jovial, providing some loud laughter during the evening. With a winning smile he adds some fun to his song, "I Can Read." Winterstine and Jones share a believable chemistry as best friends who tend to get in trouble a lot. A special round of applause goes to Jane Willingham, who came into the production as a last minute replacement. For someone who had a very short rehearsal period, she comes through like the consummate pro that she is in her warm performance as Widow Douglas. The gal even has the choreography down pat. Greg Whitmore as Reverend Sprague and Steve Lovett as Muff Potter provide many of the laughs during the evening. These two characters should have had a couple of comedic numbers written for them. Whitmore gives his character the ole Southern, holier than thou preacher vibe that generates laughs for his mirthful performance. I particularly like the hand gestures he uses to conduct and control his flock of worshipers. Lovett meanwhile channels Bud Abbott, Uncle Festus, and Tim Conway to create Muff the local town drunk. Using a hilarious speech pattern and rough Southern accent, every line caused loud laughs to echo from the audience. His characterization is topped off by comical facial expressions that work perfectly. You miss Lovett's character when he's not on stage. Daniel Svoboda, Aaron Kirby, and Charles Wallace provide solid work as Tom's trio of male friends. These three thespians provide high energy, nice laughs, and overall very entertaining performances. Bryan Wade gives the perfect characterization as the nosy, bratty, and pain-in-the-rear brother to Tom, Sidney. With his blue sailor suit, greased hair, and loud screams, he is an amusing little scene-stealer. Playing Injun Joe, Scott Nixon is a towering man with a gorgeous baritone voice. Here's another character that sorely needs more numbers. Nixon's dark, colored vocals aid in his creation of an evil killer. Nixon also provides steel-cold facial expressions that would make anyone cross to the opposite side of the street just to avoid his glare. Although the wig he wears is a bit distracting - it looks as if it were ripped off from Cher's farewell Tour. Within the large company there is exceptional work done as well by Scott Bardin as the sympathetic Judge Thatcher, Phillip Davis as the greedy Doc Robinson, and David Johnson as the town's Sheriff. Finally, E. Scott Arnold and Jordan Willis both give the proper bellowing and stature as the town's two lawyers. This production's cast and production team are excellent examples of how good, reliable talent can overcome feeble material. So go and support this company by buying a ticket to Tom Sawyer. The songs and book may not be up to par, but this company surely is! The Adventures of Tom Sawyer ran through August 13, 2005 at the Dupree Theater, Irving Arts Center 3333 N. MacArthur Blvd. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Directed & Choreographed by Andi Allen CAST: Tom Sawyer ...................Chris Winterstine |
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