It’s delightful. So easy to love, it gets under your skin. C’est magnifique. Seems like you could write a review of a Cole Porter show just using Cole Porter lyrics. His songs are the core of “Let’s Misbehave,” the original Silver Moon Theatre Company production that wraps up this weekend on the Rotary Cub Stage at Andrews Hall.
The show was written by Sue and Tom Martin, right up to the last minute – when Jeane MacPherson was injured in rehearsals and had to drop out, they had to rewrite dialogue and reassign songs. You wouldn’t know it. “The cast only had a few rehearsals to get all the lines straight,” Sue Martin said. “They’ve been troopers throughout the whole process.”
Act one is mainly dialogue, as actors in a small town theatre company stretch, kvetch, bitch, flirt and crack wise during rehearsals for – you guessed it – a Cole Porter revue. Act two is all music, with some of Porter’s biggest hits, and a few lesser-known titles, such as “Laziest Girl in Town,” a coy Cynthia Brillhart-True. Nancy Vandergrift and Jill Wagoner, changing clothes faster than Porter could mix martinis, also have great fun with his clever rhymes. Harmony highlight: the three women join together for a sultry take on “Too Darn Hot,” which finally, thanks to the remodeling of the venue, doesn’t refer to a lack of air conditioning.
The men sing nearly as neat as their tuxedos. Stage newbie Len Handeland, he of the looming comic leer, makes an impressive debut, at one point strolling into the audience to croon “I Get a Kick Out of You.” Likewise.
Garen Patterson, who solos with a goofy “Be a Clown,” and the amusingly self-deprecating Ross Alzina round out the singing cast. The ensemble comes together for a rousing finale of “Blow, Gabriel, Blow.” Well, did you ehva!
Chris Wall plays the show’s beleaguered director, with Laura Bloom Farber, the actual musical director, portraying her fictional counterpart. The live band consists of Wayne Goodman, Mark Petrella and Jim Castrone.
“Let’s Misbehave” plays Fri.-Sat., May 23-25 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 26 at 2 p.m. (Night and day). For tickets contact 938.4626 x1 or Svbo.org.
— Val Robichaud
Pictured: Ross Alzina and Cindy Brillhart-True
