“The Man Who Came to Dinner”
“A Christmas Carol”. “The Nutcracker”. “Bah! Humbug!”. The latter is not a play, but it might be the way you feel about seeing the oft-repeated Christmas entertainment the Valley has to offer. If that is the case, consider visiting The Pennsylvania Playhouse for a Christmas show that has plenty of sophistication and laughs.
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” takes place at Christmas time, and an overweight man with a beard is the main character. In this case, though, it is Sheridan Whiteside, a role based on real-life author Alexander Woollcott. The story imagines what would happen if Woollcott/Whiteside was forced to stay in the home of a conservative Midwestern family.
The real-life Woollcott was famous for theater reviews, so it is only natural that Whiteside is egotistical, bad tempered, selfish, and seems to only find pleasure in eating and insulting nearly everyone in sight. Whiteside (Chip Rohrbach), recovering in a wheelchair from a fracture, bullies his way into the center of the Stanley residence, banishing the family to the upstairs and the back entrance.
His long-time secretary Maggie (Gretchen Klinedinst) is used to his behavior and eclectic group of friends, but she is unprepared when she falls in love with a young newspaperman (Andrew White). The involved plot also includes visits by grand thespians Lorraine Sheldon and Beverly Carlton (Seregon O’Dassey and Wayne Gmitter), a pair of convicts, a crate of penguins, a scientist with ten thousand caged cockroaches, a mummy case, and Harpo Marx (here called Banjo, played by Scott Laubner).
Director Robert Callan provides actors with strong characterizations and the split-second timing needed to make this show a success. Rohrbach at first seems a bit young for the part, but he soon makes it his own. His Whiteside alternately flatters, yells, and schemes to get his own way, but he is still believable when he drops his façade for some acts of kindness (the story takes place at Christmastime, after all).
O’Dassey and Gmitter are so good, their talents match their characters’s outside egos. And Laubner answers the old question, “What would Harpo Marx be like if you could see him talk?” Here he is non-stop energy, and as witty as Groucho, without the acerbic edge.
Tom Onushco is perfect as the straight-laced Mr. Stanley driven to distraction by Whiteside, as is Cheryl Bowman as the long suffering nurse Miss Prean (interestingly, Bowman is an actual nurse).
I wish I could individually mention each of the more than twenty cast members, who make this two-and-a-half hour play such a delight. Hey, I guess it must be getting close to Christmas!
“The Man Who Came To Dinner”, Pennsylvania Playhouse, Illicks Mill Road, Bethlehem, December 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m., $15, seniors and children $13 Fridays and Sundays, 610-865-6665, www.paplayhouse.org.
--Dave Howell, 12/02
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” takes place at Christmas time, and an overweight man with a beard is the main character. In this case, though, it is Sheridan Whiteside, a role based on real-life author Alexander Woollcott. The story imagines what would happen if Woollcott/Whiteside was forced to stay in the home of a conservative Midwestern family.
The real-life Woollcott was famous for theater reviews, so it is only natural that Whiteside is egotistical, bad tempered, selfish, and seems to only find pleasure in eating and insulting nearly everyone in sight. Whiteside (Chip Rohrbach), recovering in a wheelchair from a fracture, bullies his way into the center of the Stanley residence, banishing the family to the upstairs and the back entrance.
His long-time secretary Maggie (Gretchen Klinedinst) is used to his behavior and eclectic group of friends, but she is unprepared when she falls in love with a young newspaperman (Andrew White). The involved plot also includes visits by grand thespians Lorraine Sheldon and Beverly Carlton (Seregon O’Dassey and Wayne Gmitter), a pair of convicts, a crate of penguins, a scientist with ten thousand caged cockroaches, a mummy case, and Harpo Marx (here called Banjo, played by Scott Laubner).
Director Robert Callan provides actors with strong characterizations and the split-second timing needed to make this show a success. Rohrbach at first seems a bit young for the part, but he soon makes it his own. His Whiteside alternately flatters, yells, and schemes to get his own way, but he is still believable when he drops his façade for some acts of kindness (the story takes place at Christmastime, after all).
O’Dassey and Gmitter are so good, their talents match their characters’s outside egos. And Laubner answers the old question, “What would Harpo Marx be like if you could see him talk?” Here he is non-stop energy, and as witty as Groucho, without the acerbic edge.
Tom Onushco is perfect as the straight-laced Mr. Stanley driven to distraction by Whiteside, as is Cheryl Bowman as the long suffering nurse Miss Prean (interestingly, Bowman is an actual nurse).
I wish I could individually mention each of the more than twenty cast members, who make this two-and-a-half hour play such a delight. Hey, I guess it must be getting close to Christmas!
“The Man Who Came To Dinner”, Pennsylvania Playhouse, Illicks Mill Road, Bethlehem, December 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, and 22, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m., $15, seniors and children $13 Fridays and Sundays, 610-865-6665, www.paplayhouse.org.
--Dave Howell, 12/02
(This article first appeared in The Morning Call newspaper.)