Photo Flash: LEND ME A TENOR Comes To The Loft Theatre, Previews 9/10

"It's all about the doors," says Joe Deer, director of The Human Race Theatre's upcoming production of Lend Me A Tenor. "When a door opens, you know someone's coming through it, and it's always the very worst person it could be." Worst for the characters, that is - best for the audience.

There are six doors in the set of Ken Ludwig's Tony-winning farce about the incredible things that go wrong with the Cleveland Opera Company's 1934 gala fundraiser, and one or more of them is bound to be opening, closing or, mostly, slamming pretty much all the time. In front of the doors, there's a zany chain-reaction of mistaken identity, double entendres, innuendoes, and just plain goofiness, as anything that could go wrong does so with a bang.

There are bodies that aren't really quite dead, and plenty of moments when the characters wish they were, when opera manager Saunders brings the world-renowned tenor Tito Morelli, aka Il Stupendo, to town, setting off the mayhem.

Deer has assembled a cast made for merriment. Chicago-based Richard Marlatt, as Il Stupendo, and Human Race Resident Artist Tim Lile, as Saunders, are on their third time around as a guffaw-inducing team at The Loft - the first two being the hilarious productions of The Underpants and Moonlight and Magnolias.

Want a young couple with natural chemistry? The boy-girl set in Tenor, Max and Maggie, is Aaron Vega and Claire Kennedy, relative newlyweds in real life. And there's another real-life couple involved, with Deer's wife, Caitlin Larsen, back on stage after a brief hiatus since Picasso at the Lapin Agile (okay, a decade, but who's counting), playing the fiery Mrs. Morelli.

Deb Colvin-Tener, a veteran of many Loft shows, most recently Seussical, plays opera board president Julia. Newcomers in the cast are Allison Moody, frequently seen on Indianapolis stages, as the not-particularly-chaste Diana and recent Wright State grad Jeff Newman as the bellhop (singing variety).

Dick Block designed the set, including all the doors. Technical Director Scott Kimmins and Tristan Cupp are responsible for making sure that when the doors slam, the walls don't collapse. David Covach designed the costumes, which occasionally go on and off and get switched around. Lighting is by Resident Artist John Rensel, sound by Nathan D. Dean.

Lend Me A Tenor preview night is September 10, with the official opening September 11 and performances through September 27 at The Loft Theatre, 126 N. Main St., downtown Dayton. Tickets are available by calling Ticket Center Stage at (937) 228-3630 or toll-free (888) 228-3630, at the Schuster Center Box Office, or via www.humanracetheatre.org.

Production sponsors for Tenor are Morris Home Furnishings, Houser Asphalt & Concrete, Connexion Marketing & Design, Beth & Alan Schaeffer, Bob & Lucy Wallace, and Requarth Lumber Company.

Photos by Scott J. Kimmins

Claire Kennedy and Aaron Vega

Tim Lile