Actors' NET launches impressive 'Show Boat'

05/23/2001

By ANITA DONOVAN
Special to The Times

Ever since Actors' NET of Bucks County announced Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein's "Show Boat" as their spring musical production, theater folk and playgoers alike have been speculating as to just how directors Joe and Cheryl Doyle were going to squeeze this celebrated classic into their tiny theater in the Heritage Center on Delmorr Avenue in Morrisville, Pa.

Well, now it can be told. They did it! Not by expanding their facility, erecting a multi-level superstructure, building runways into the audience or projecting videotape on the rear wall. They did it by simply telling the story.

Based on the 1926 novel by Edna Ferber, the story begins and ends on the Cotton Blossom, a 19th-century show boat steaming up and down the Mississippi to entertain the villagers along the shore. Through plots and subplots, it pursues the theme of marriage in several forms.

Captain Andy Hawks presides over the theatrical scene, while his wife Parthy tries to make a good Christian home for their daughter Magnolia, who already has an eye for play-acting. When Gaylord Ravenal, a good-looking, elegant gambler, comes on board, Magnolia is lost, and the two become a romantic pair off-stage as well as on.

Leading lady Julie and her husband Steve are driven off the show boat because of their mixed-blood marriage. Another union is represented by Queenie and Joe, black servants on the boat, who have a prickly but tolerant relationship.

Years go by, and Magnolia and Ravenal sink into poverty, as Julie finds solace in drink. When the loving but weak Ravenal abandons his wife and their daughter Kim, Magnolia seeks her fortune as a singer, aided by the team of Schultz and Schultz, also veterans of the Cotton Blossom, and the fifth married couple, this one with a professional as well as personal bond.

The music of Show Boat is marvelous, of course, with such all-time favorites as "You are Love," "Only Make Believe," "Can't Help Lovin' that Man," "Bill," and "Why Do I Love You?" The able cast delivers these songs sincerely and intimately, as if singing them for the very first time. "Old Man River," a familiar anthem to show off a big bass-baritone voice, comes out as an awesome personal acknowledgment that nature is above the trials and tribulations of human beings and will "keep on rolling along."

The cast of "Show Boat" comprises some fine musical performers. Pam Linkin, known for her comic persona and belting voice, is a warm, sunny Magnolia who grows in womanliness. Tom Orr, who has clowned and cavorted on many area stages, is a romantic and appealing Ravenal.

Susan Fowler plays Julie with reserve, preserving her character's shaky dignity. George Reilly is the husband who dares flout the law for her love.

Joe Doyle creates a complex Captain Andy, astute but generous in his judgments. As his foil, Cheryl Doyle is the fussy, suspicious Parthy, loving to her family but tenacious of reputation. Not to be missed is Captain Andy's recreation of a two-man fist-fight, in which he knocks himself out.

Bill Thompkins and Crystal Clark bring ironic charm to the bickering Joe and Queenie. Cheryl Mazzarini and John Zimmerman are a delight as the quintessential vaudeville couple, savvy, aggressive, and cute. Todd Reichart, Phil Fagans, Hugh Barton, Vaun Clark and Steve Decker play multiple parts, and a bevy of pretty young ladies play the Cotton Blossom's admiring audience.

Overall, the 32-person cast does double and triple duty and all are right where they need to be at any moment, no small accomplishment. Pat Masterson's musical ensemble, with keyboards, flute and trumpet, is energizing without overwhelming the small auditorium.

In the nuts and bolts department, it must be said that this production would not work without the outstanding stage management by Phil Fagans and his crew, who work swiftly and unerringly to get everything where it needs to be on Cheryl Doyle's economical set.

"Show Boat" may be a historic classic that we all know inside and out, but the Actors' NET production brings out the original simplicity and sentiment that made it work in the first place.

"Show Boat" continues Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 6 p.m. through June 3. Tickets are $13-$15. (216) 295-3694 or (215) 428-0217.