cTlif g'nliimltiis Dl5|inlth Fritfay, April 30, 1993 Otterbein makes ‘Big River’ better than it is By Michael Grossberg The acting is superb. So is tlie lioiiK! tube “civilized.” Dispdich Thcaicr Critic singing (guided by vocal director Riciardson and Moore’s stir THEATER REVIEW Craig Johnson), the lively pit orches ring durts (Mnddy Water, River in Big Riwr falls short of the ait- tra (conducted by music director the Ra'ni and especially Worlds istry and depOi of Into Vie WooiL% Big River, Otterbein College's stii- David DeVenney), Rob John.son’s AjKiii) rellect their grawing lioiids Sweeney Todd, Evita, A Chorm ilent production of the musical picturesque scenic design, Katie of tinst ind friendship. Line and Man of La Mancha — all adaptation of I luck Finn's adven Robbins’ rags-io-nouvean riche- The show’s underlying spiritual first-i’ank Broadway musicals that tures. Directed by John Stefano. style 19th-century costumes and ity is caiveyed with grice and long- have received first-class I’evivals at Jim...... Ron Richardson lighting designer Fred Thayer’s biu'- suffering strength by the black OUerbein College in recent yeai-s. I luck Finn...... Corey Moore slaves ii Cmssing Over and by iH- ;• Yet, Otterbein’s rousing produc nished sunsets, hazy sunrises and King...... Keith Weirich ice’s Duighter (’Tonya Watson) in tion of Bitj River, which opened last (h'amatic atmosjiheric effects. Duke...... Todtl Crain night at Westeiwille’s Cowan Hall, is The cast’s soaidng baritones, the gosjel-style How Blest We Air.. Mark'Twain...... Daryl Toziipone I iwlished and professional that one plmigent tenois and lilting sopranos Hov ble.ssed indeed is Otterbein Tom Sawyer...... losh Gildrie ('iisily overlooks tlie show’s folksy, make Miller’s catchall coimti^-west- to have such a strong supporting- Pap Finn...... Nick Koeslers em-gospel-blues score sound better cast: Nek Koestei-s, dangerous and fiimiiy-oiiented vulgaiizations. One of tlie year’s best musicals \ This beautifully designed and than it really is. funny as Huck’s ill-tempered Pappy; Performances arc at 8 tonight and perceptively sfiiged revival gi-ounds Guest Eciuity performer Ron Patti Am Knooi), brimming with Richai’dson, who won a Tony awai’d kindness and grief as the bereaved Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday: the 'Tony-winning musical comedy- through May 8 in Cowan Mall. 30 ”S. diama in rich characterizations. for originating the role of Jim in Mai'y Jine Wilkes; ’Todd Alan Crain, Grove St., Westerville. > Director John Stefano allows New York, brings a bona fide Broad as the stintting, mincing Duke; and aiithor William Hauptman and com- way pizazz to the college show. Keith Ljrciui Weiiich’s cciually hiun- 'Tickets: $10.50-$ 12. Call 898-1109. fibsei'-lyiicist Roger Miller’s adapta- His assuiance and chaiisma, as my Kiiiff, the Duke’s conniving iiail- tibn of The Adventmvs of Hnckleber- Huck’s mentor on their raft trip ner-in-ciime. nf. Finn its picaresque sweep and down the Mississippi River, galvan era-defining scope while adding apt ized the student cast and tlie packed nuances of tone and textui’e. audience at Wednesday’s preview. i The solid 28-member cast plays Corey Moore exudes a brash/ imore than three dozen roles with sly bashful chann as Huclq 'Twain’s wit hiimor and a spunky confidence tliat ty archetype of the rambunctious patches the happy-go-lucky spirit of American boy who would ratlier play ttark Twain’s all-American yam. hooky and go fishing tlian stay at McAnuff (Broadway’s new Tommy) adapted the 1985 Tony winner for best musical from Twain’s The Adventures of Hitekkberry Finn. The gospel-folk- OHIO blues score is by Roger Miller, the country singer NEWS BUREAU INC. known for King of the Road and such novelty num CLEVELAND, OHIO 44115 bers as Dang Me, Chug-A-Lug and Can't Roller 216/241-0675 Skate in a Buffalo Herd. Richardson views Big River as “more of a play with music than a traditional musical comedy.” COLUMBUS DISPATCH As Huck and Jim raft down the Mississippi River, they confront a potentially healthy rural COLUMBUS; OH, America — but one sickened by the poisons of slav AM CIRC, 315;427 ery, bigotry and racism. “Jim is Huck’s mentor,” Richardson said. “Huck was an abused child who basically reared himself. It was easier for Huck to accept basic truths about liv ing in society from Jim than from his (white) flPR-28-93 ‘equals.’ “Big River gives us a chance to look at the his tory of America and experience the pain of racism, ” Richardson said, “but it also shows us a solution. “This is a show for all Americans, especially given today’s racial tensions. They never re^y went away, but now they are more visible,” he said, refer ring to the Rodney King case and the Los Angeles riots. This will be Richardson’s fifth production of B ig River. Besides the original Broadway show, he starred in the first national tour, a Japanese tour to Tokyo and Osaka, and a student revi^ at Moor head University in Moorhead, Minn. “Being in a college setting is exciting,” Richard son said. “Young actors bring a fresh, serious ap proach to working in the theater. They are still at the point where they are enjoying it, and it hasn’t become a job.” The guest Equity actor will star opposite several of Otterbein’s most promising students: Corey Moore, as Huck Finn; Keith Weirich, as the King; Todd Crain, as the Duke; and Daryl Lozupone, as MarkTwain. Moore, Weirich and Crain played significant roles last year in Otterbein’s acclaimed Into the Woods. “The real challenge for me is to show the audi ence what’s in Jim’s mind — all of the survival tech niques that he had to develop, and all the pain he Richardson values i had to absorb in putting back together his own fam ily,” Richardson said. Richardson made his New York debut in the the basic truths i mid-1970s as Sportin’ Life in the acclaimed Houston Grand Opera revival of Porgy and Bess. His first Broadway musicals were Timbuktu, op in ‘Big River’ I posite Eartha Kitt; The Wiz (as the Scarecrow-); and By Michael Grossberg Dreamgirls (as James Thunder Early). Dispatch Theater Critic Then Richardson, who was approaching 30, de cided to leave show business to get a “real job.” He Broadway’s Ron Richai'dson doesn’t think he’ll went to work for Atlantic Records and was among ever get tired of playing Jim, the black slave who be the fii’st scriptwriters for MTV. friends Huck Finn in Big River. That axperience led to a career re-evaluation. “I have a great love for the role, and a lot of peo “I found the theater far more sane than corpo ple want to see me do it,” said Richardson, who is in rate America,” Richardson said, “so I decided to re Columbus to reheai'se Otterbein College's revival of I turn to the stage.” the Tony-winning musical^ i Richardson won a 1985 Tony award for best which opens Thui-sday. “Si!; addresses Otterbein College j supporting actor for his portrayal of Jim in Big some basic miths,” presentspresents Big River atat : River. Richanlson said. “Mai-k 7:30 p.m,p.m. Thursday, j “It gave me a lot of opportunities I wouldn’t have had oth^erwise,” Richardson said. Twain wrote about man’s ®8 Pp.m. FridayFriday andand j inhumanity to miin. TTie SaturdaySaturday, andand 22 p,m.p.m. | Since then, he has api^eai-ed on Broadway with Rae Dawn Chong in Oh, Kay!, in London’s West story shows that people can Sunday; through I love one another in the uMay 8 in Cowan ct I End in the award-winning Carmen Jones wA on Hall, 30 S, Grove St., television in NBC’s J27 and ABC’s One Life To midst of a situation that uf ” ' Live. He is preparing two new Broadway musicals doesn't necessarily rlictate Westerville.tin Tickets^ — Nat King Cole: A Legacy and Black Broadivaij! that kind of love.” cost$10.50-$12. Call 898-1109. “I have traveled all over the world: Japan, Author William Haupt- France, the Soviet Union, the Baltic states,” he said. man and dii-f/ctor Des i “And that changed my view of tilings. “Every culture has a uniciue way of dealing with problems. When you get e.xposed to other cultui'es, you see your own in a new light.” Jiif OisjuBii ■ Su/uiay, June 20, lOOi
Onstage Seasoi’s best needed no bells, whistles Simple can be magical. zingy punch line, ranks as the season’s most unusual casting The simplest form of theater is a lone show^ off her mas choice. And it worked! actor onstage. By using words, glances, tery again as the Saving graces. A good supporting per gestures and a mimmmn of props and scen formance can’t save a play that doesn’t ery, a single actor conjures living characters quirky mother in and complex worlds j out of a willing audi CATCO’s Prelude to succeed for other reasons, but it can offer ence’s imagination. a Kiss. And Gail refreshing relief. It is the simplest theater that I remem Griffith was funny, Five e.xamples: Harold Eisenstein’s ber best as I reflect on the local performanc cranky and sober- good humor as the Jewish neighbor in Gal es that defined the highs and lows of the ingly real as the lery Players’ Cantorial; Angela Barch’s vi- 1992-9.3 season. world-weary prosti vadousness in Actors’ Doctor Fcnistus and Stellar solos. Lynn Redgrave was Michael tute in Shadowbox Earnest; Jim Azelvandre’s lunacy as a divine spellbinding in Shaketf^are for My Father, Theatre’s one-act, messenger in Spotlight’s God’s Favorite; the season’s best touiing play. So were Grossberg StunvangeL and Robert Pivetta’s songwriter and Mark Brooks Almy in Shirley Valentine at Best support Passerrello’s buddy in Gallery’s Doubles. Players 'Theatre Columbus and Lynne Wilde ing actor; Tom Fortman, endearing and The best was Jonathai Beck Reed’s in The Belle of Amherst at New World wistful as Prelude's mysterious Old Man. zany scene-stealing in Balancing Ad, Dan 'Theatre. Runner-up: Ron Thomas, a college stu Goggins’ banal musical at Players. Redgrave conceived, wrote, directed Best ensemble, play: Players’ Lips To dent who gave a persuasive middle-aged and performed her autobiographical play, gether, Teeth Apart wouldn’t have b^ so now reaping plaudits, on Broadway. Her aura to the morally compromised father in wise and witty without Linda Cook’s eiichantingly modest ^iece weaves crisply Otterbein’s pow’erful I'evival of All My Sons. smarter-than-she-sounds chatterbox, Ma- delivered excerpts from 19 Shakespearean Honorable men lachy Cleary’s snotty roles and revealing ^