Thursday, May 8, 1997
Ventura County Edition
Section: Calendar
Page: F-43
THEATER NOTES;
THEATER: Ventura County
A Good 'Place' for Wit and the Dearly Departed
By: TODD EVERETT
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
English poet Andrew Marvell was kidding when he characterized the grave as "a fine and
private place." Though Erik Haggenson and Richard Isen's play takes place in a cemetery, the
authors are kidding a bit, too.
Clearly, one's appreciation of "A Fine and Private Place," now playing at the Marquie Dinner
Theatre, will depend to a great extent on one's appetite--or capacity--for whimsy, fairly macabre
whimsy at that. Not only do the dead carry on like living beings in this musical; there's a talking
raven.
(Gene Bernath) plays Jonathan Rebeck, a living human who for some unexplained reason can
communicate with the dead. He lives in a mausoleum, where he greets the recently departed (or
arrived, depending on your point of view). He also speaks with the aforementioned raven,
wisecracking and cynical and wittily portrayed by (Rex Waggoner) in a fetching feather boa.
Rebeck's life is interrupted by Michael (Jim Harlow), a 30-ish writer who has died under
mysterious circumstances; Gertrude (Carolyn Cohen), an elderly widow who has come to visit
the remains of her late husband; and Laurie (Deidre Fisher), a woman of Michael's age who
died lonely. Anybody who can't see where this is going should get out more, but there are a
couple of amusing twists along the way, and the play is as pleasant as all get out.
The music is post-Sondheim, which means that nobody's likely to leave the room humming the
tunes. Most of the cast sing quite well (all of them well enough) to musical accompaniment by
(Kevin Parcher) and his rack of synthesizers. All of the aforementioned cast members turn in
solid performances, very well timed under (DeeAnn Helsel's) finely tuned direction, as does
(Gregory Peckham) as the cemetery caretaker.
* "A Fine and Private Place" continues Thurs.-Sat. through June 7 at the Marquie Dinner
Theatre, 340 N. Mobil Ave., Camarillo. Reservations required. Call (805) 484-9909.
|
|