Review: Perfect Casting Makes For A Riveting 'Picnic'
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Many people love the musicals at Wagon Wheel Theatre.
But while I enjoy the good musical productions each year, it's the plays that I most can't wait to see. And this year's choice of "Picnic" has turned out to be top-notch.
Never having heard or seen any version of the show before opening night Wednesday, I was engaged from start to finish. The actors have been perfectly cast, the set direction is one of the best I've ever seen at the theater, and the storyline is riveting.
"Picnic" is all about people's perceptions of others based on their appearances, and how we don't give people credit for being worth more than what is on their exteriors. We think too much on beauty, riches, clothing and age rather than the heart, strength and other inner attributes a person has to offer.
"It takes a lot more than love to keep people happy," Flo Owens (Patricia Daniels) tells her daughter Madge (Jennie Sophia) in one scene, and unfortunately that's true. The 11-member cast of "Picnic" gets the message across loud and clear.
"Picnic" opens up on Labor Day morning in a small town in Kansas in the early 1950s. In one house is middle-aged Helen Potts (Danielle Robertson), who lives with her elderly invalid mother. Audiences never see her mother, but hear her clearly. The house across the way belongs to Flo Owens (Patricia Daniels), a 40-something widow, her two daughters, Madge and Millie (Heather Bonahoom), and a boarder, Rosemary Sydney (Anna Ahlborn). Sydney is an old maid schoolteacher who yearns for a soulmate, though she denies it at the onset.
The first characters audiences meet in the production are Helen and a beefy drifter, Hal Carter (Greg Teghtmeyer), who is eager to work for a meal. Hal is in town, looking for a former frat brother and a job. Madge's man, Alan Seymour (Michael Vangemert), happens to be Hal's old college chum. While Hal has the body the women swoon over, Alan has the money and connections.
Madge and her sister also have some strife between them. While Millie is the smart tomboy, Madge is the beauty. Both are jealous of the other for what they do not have themselves. They perceive the other to be better than themselves for having what they lack.
As the sisters, Bonahoom and Sophia pull it off greatly. Bonahoom, a Warsaw Community High School graduate by the way, gives the strongest I've ever seen of any of her performances to date. She plays tomboy, angry, bitter, unhappy, envious, wanting, lusting and lonely all wrapped up in one character. You sympathize with her character, but at the same time you want to send her to her room as punishment. Bonahoom truly has come a long way since her days on the high school stage.
And Sophia is a talented actress who can convey all the emotions as well. If she's in love, or hurt, or making a tough decision to follow her heart, it's out there on the stage for all the audience to see.
Audiences may remember Daniels from "Steel Magnolias," among other shows at the Wagon Wheel. She's just as memorable in "Picnic," and even more so. Her strongest part in the role comes at the end when her dreams for Madge are slipping away. She doesn't want Madge to make the same mistake she did - to follow her heart. But Madge has as good enough of an answer for her as any.
"I guess you don't love someone because they're perfect," Madge says. Sophia delivers that most-important line like she believes it.
Daniels has always been great in everything I've seen her with at the Wagon Wheel. In "Picnic," she's found a cast that helps her to perform even better.
In the two main male roles of "Picnic," you have the same kind of relationship that exists between Madge and Millie. Both Hal and Alan are jealous of the other guy for what they have that they perceive would make them a better, more deserving person.
Alan is envious enough of Hal's good looks and muscular body that he often says things about Hal to reduce him to nothing more than a bundle of muscles. Alan "pities" Hal for his checkered past, but by pitying Hal, Alan thinks that makes himself look better. But Alan shows his true colors, his own self-doubts and jealousy of Carter when, after Madge spurns Alan, Alan says, "Madge is beautiful. Did I honestly think I could spend the rest of my life just looking at her?"
In those two short sentences, Alan also reveals he saw nothing more in Madge than what was skin deep. Meanwhile, Hal and Madge were interested in each for more than just their appearances.
"I'm just a poor bastard, and I've got to claim what's mine," Carter tells Madge. "And you're mine, baby."
Teghtmeyer as Hal and Vangemert as Alan were smart casting decisions. Vangemert knows how to play the yuppie role well, and it helps "Picnic" feel true. And I'm not sure where Teghtmeyer came from, but as Hal, he's reminiscent of a Marlon Brando from "On the Waterfront" or James Dean in "Rebel Without A Cause."
This show's cast is all strong and perfect choices for the roles. There's also Anna Ahlborn (loved her) as Rosemary, Mike Yocum (great as always) as Rosemary's man Howard Bevans, Jennifer Dow (never disappoints) as Irma Kronkite (and the voice of Helen's mother), Erin Rinke-Vangemert (talented) as Christine Schoenwalder and Skye Scott (also an amazing WCHS graduate) as Bomber. What more can I say about this cast? Fantastic.
Let's not forget the set design. Two porches face one another. A swing hanging by "tree limbs" is in the center of the stage. There's mini-fences and flowers growing about. For such a small space, Roy Hine really did a great job with the look of it, and as the show progresses, it feels real. You almost forget you're looking at a stage instead of two facing porches in a neighborhood somewhere.
So while you await the last musical of the season, "A Grand Night for Singing," go see "Picnic." You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll be impressed and want to see it again.
