Review: THE SPITFIRE GRILL IS A HEARTWARMING CHARMER at The Armonk Players

Pia Haas has done it again. The artistic director of The Armonk Players, the resident company under the roof of North Castle Library in the southern Westchester enclave of the same name, has an unerring eye for theatrical properties – such as her current musical production, Spitfire Grill -- that are more gritty than glitzy, brimming with originality and rooted in crafty and relatable storytelling.

The Spitfire Grill is a charming, heartwarming ode to the call of nature and to finding our way in life alongside others struggling to do the same. It’s about communities communing with nature and with each other.

The Spitfire Grill began life as a 1996 feature film by Lee David Zlotoff. It poignantly conveys themes of hope, redemption, forgiveness and second chances. It is set in the backwater of economically distressed Gilead, Wisconsin, whose lifeline of a quarry is shuttered and which has been isolated by a new interstate that bypasses it.

Its protagonist is Percy Talbott, a young woman newly out of jail for murdering an abusive stepfather, and who finds work at a tired grill owned by a tired woman, Hannah Ferguson, who wants to unload it and retire. Percy, held in suspicion by the tight-knit folk of Gilead because of her suspect back story, calls herself a “wild bird.” She’s also scrappy, devising a clever plan to help Hannah unload the grill, and in the end Percy is richly rewarded for her ingenuity.

Dominique Karanfilian as Percy and Jennifer Wallace as her grill co-worker and new friend Shelby Thorpe bring winning performances and voices that harmonize beautifully, most notably in the signature tune “The Colors of Paradise,” which closes the show with a soaring reprise that left this audience member wanting more. They could have sung all night as far as I was concerned.

Anthony Malchar as kindly Sheriff Joe Sutter, Percy’s parole officer who takes a shining to her, is in his customary fine fettle, possessed both of strong Stage Presence and a pleasingly dulcet vocal style.

Ann Alford brings a drily amusing and touching weariness to Hannah, whose embattled life has tested her faith, but she too, as with others in Gilead, finds redemption in the end.

The musicalization capitalizes on the strong storyline with what might be called a Western omelet of flavorful numbers that don’t sacrifice storytelling (lyrics and book by Fred Alley) for pretty sounds (music and book by James Valcq), but effectively blend the two into a tuneful score that is full of personality, both flinty and reveling in the poetry of Americana (the titular “Something’s Cooking at the Spitfire Grill” opens the show as an informative backstory narrative).

There are evocative ballads, power ballads, and recitatives, moving the story forward by speaking of regret, hope, changes in fortune, and the roughness of life. The tangy novelty number “Out of the Frying Pan” resonates with a twang worthy of a Reba McIntire ditty. All of the strands of the story are treated with a kind of Disneyesque gentleness that both pays homage to and elevates the human condition. All we can ask of ourselves and each other is to do our best to move along and get along.

Rounding out the fine cast are Lori Skjeveland as flinty postmistress Effy Krayneck, Michael Moriarity as Shelby’s embittered husband Caleb Thorpe, one of the town’s unemployed quarry workers who resents Percy’s presence, and Steven Estrada as the  mysterious but harmless nocturnal visitor whom we find out is named Eli.  

That the play’s principals feature strong women is a notable part of what attracted Ms. Haas’s interest in mounting it The Spitfire Grill in Armonk. “We wanted to celebrate strong female voices and characters at a time when conservations around women’s rights  and equity feel especially urgent,” she writes in the program’s Director’s Note.

Ms. Haas also has a knowing director’s eye for fully realized stage pictures, movement and musicality that sparkle with the discipline of professionalism. The caliber of Off-Broadway, where she saw this show when it opened a quarter-century ago, has nothing on The Armonk Players when the formidable Ms. Haas occupies the director’s chair.

Other Credits
The set, a joint effort built by Tom Ammirato and Luddy Malchar, is economically designed to serve its several purposes and locations without any busy set changes. It’s a credible visualization of a generic exurban diner, while an upstage scrim of a burnt orange and azure horizon connects the grill to the hope and beauty of the natural world beyond.

The excellent orchestra includes Will Rich (Conductor/Keyboard), Gillian Kroll (Guitar/Mandolin), Don Gerundo (Accordion), Karen Chalif (Cello), Jane Lee (Violin).

Dan Scherer is Technical Director. Anthony Santora is Lighting Director. Jesse Melito is Sound Designer. Colleen Ammirato is Costumer.