Small-budget show big on talent By Susan Goehring
The Middlebury College Musical Players presented four showings of the musical "She Loves Me" from Nov. 18-20. The production, based on Miklos Laszlo's play "Parfumerie," originally directed on Broadway by Harold Prince, was presented in the McCullough Social Space.
A medium-sized crowd turned out for Saturday night's performance. As cast members were predominantly first-years, the crowd was primarily made up of younger college students. A number of parents gathered in the first three rows of seating. The atmosphere was comfortable and friendly, as most of the audience knew the actors on stage.
Since the original lead, Sally Swallow '07, was diagnosed with mononucleosis a week before the performance and forced to pull out of the show, Director Shannon Gmyrek '06.5, stepped into the role of Amalia Balash at the last minute. Kevin Velez '06 also took on multiple roles, playing the character of Mr. Maraczek, as well as serving as Musical Director and Conductor of the accompaniment orchestra.
"She Loves Me" takes place in 1930s Budapest. The musical begins during the peak of the holiday shopping season, when Maraczek's perfumery is all hustle and bustle with dollar signs flitting through the heads of the clerks. Georg Nowak, played by Teddy Crecelius '08, is the manager of the perfumery. When the production opens, we find him involved in a letter-writing relationship with a correspondant - "Dear Friend"- whom he has never met. Amalia Barash (Shannon Gmyrek '06.5) is the naive, yet at times effusively opinionated young woman who gets a job in Maraczek's perfumery. Other clerks included Ilona Ritter (Allison Corke '08), the robust and rather cynical voice of reason and, therefore, the perfect character foil to Amalia Barash; Steven Kodaly (Bil Davison '08), the arrogant ladies man; Ladislav Sipos (Douglas McRae '08 ) and Arpad Laszlo (Kevin Tierney '08). Animosity grows in the store, as Amalia and Georg argue and clash in almost every encounter they have. Ironically, as the story unfolds, the audience learns that Amalia is the "Dear Friend" Georg is corresponding with.
Against all odds, Gmyrek did a laudable job with the role of Amalia. There was also charming chemistry between the characters of Maraczek and Georg. Davison turned in a notable performance as Steven Kodaly, who, with his acting talent and rich singing voice, set the bar for the other players.
When questioned as to whether or not he found it difficult to juggle various roles in the production, Velez replied, "Nah, it was easy, I think I'll direct and do percussion next time, too. The most difficult part was remembering where and when I was supposed to be on or off stage."
With a small budget, the behind-the-scenes crew like the stage props and costumes, were humble, if existent at all. The backdrop scenery was constructed of several rotating, triangular-shaped cubes, each side painted with faint hues and depicting varying scenes. Costumes were modest, yet successful. Finally, all actors took on dual, if not multiple, roles in the production. The stage crew, moving props and changing scenery in between scenes, was constituent of the actors themselves. All the actors coordinated well with the time period, successfuly capturing the historical context of the play. |
