BWW Reviews: SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN HOMECOMING at Chaffin's Barn

There comes a moment late in act two of the Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre production of Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming when now-married, about-to-give-birth daughter June Sanders Oglethorpe delivers a beautiful monologue in which she talks about her love for her family, her excitement at being a new mother, her devotion to her preacher husband's work and what it means to leave home and family for a new life adventure.

Jennifer Richmond, cast as June, delivers the scripted lines with a beautiful depth, mining her somewhat vapid character for meaning and significance - and, in so doing, delivers an emotional wallop that is almost certain to leave you fighting back tears and remembering your own first, tentative steps into the greater world outside the confines of your own family. It's a sweet and touching moment and Richmond has never been better.

And while that scene is definitely a highlight of Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, it is but one of a series of special scenes that evoke thoughts of home and memories of loved ones long gone. Clearly, if you grew up in a small Southern town (whether or not you attended a small, homespun Baptist church like the one depicted in Alan Bailey and Connie Ray's evocative script, matters very little), you'll find much with which to identify. And for this sentimental journey credit goes to director Martha Wilkinson, music director Tim Fudge and the wondrous cast who portray the whole extendEd Sanders family with such genuine good-heartedness.

Much of the cast of last Christmas' A Sanders Family Christmas returns to the stage as the Sanders family, including Daron Bruce as patriarch Burl, Amanda Lamb as matriarch Vera, Will Sevier as sometimes-errant Uncle Stanley, and B.J. Rowell and Jaclyn Brown as the twins Dennis and Denise. They are joined by Richmond as June, the non-singing member of the clan, and Mike Baum as her husband, the Rev. Mervin Oglethorpe.

We again greet the Sanders Family at the Mount Pleasant (North Carolina) Baptist Church; it's 1945 and two months after VJ Day. Dennis is home from the war, Stanley is back from another bender, and Rev. Oglethorpe and June are planning a trip to Texas, where he's been "called" to pastor a newly established Baptist church on the prairie. Burl and Vera are still the family's stalwart leaders, both musically and spiritually; Denise and her off-stage husband are parents to a pair of raucous, high-spirited twin boys; and Dennis has been called to take the reins at Mount Pleasant Baptist.

The "homecoming" at the heart of this musical - the third of a down-home flavored trilogy about the Sanders family, in particular, and closely knit Southern families, in general - is something every small-town Southerners can easily recognize. Filled with hymns and humor, brought to expressive musical life by the supremely talented cast, and overflowing with an abundance of sentiment, joy and faith, Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming is like a trip back home, to a simpler time that is rich in all the things we tend to take for granted.

Opening with the classic hymn, "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" and continuing through a program that includes so many of your childhood's best-loved church music, Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming makes even the most backslidden (if there is such a word) among us to go back to church and remember the people we love without fear of a falling roof.

Bruce is warm and winning as Burl, his musicality and demeanor artfully blending to recreate his character. Lamb is exquisitely ageless as Vera, her beautiful voice soaring to the heavens and her expert timing used to perfection. Sevier is sublimely understated and powerful as Stanley, Burl's prodigal brother whose missteps mirror those of so many of us.

Rowell, as Dennis ("he's the boy!") gives a finely etched performance as the budding preacher, seeking to claim the mantle of pastor from his brother-in-law. And Brown is appropriately scattered, smothered and covered up by her wild boys while maintaining a certain lovely air of clam while singing with her family.

Richmond is hilarious as the sign-language interpreting June, infusing her character with a generous helping of reality to ground her and to make her much more real than we've seen June before. Baum, as the well-meaning, if slightly clumsy, Mervin Oglethorpe is ideally cast, playing the role with an artful grace.

Wilkinson smartly lets her superb cast deliver their performances unimpeded by a lot of stagey theatrics, relying instead on their innate talents and obvious respect for the material to achieve theatrical perfection. Fudge's musical direction is, as always, a reflection of his own immense capabilities and he allows the actors to sing their hearts out, thus ensuring that audiences will take them to their collective hearts.

Billy Ditty's costume, hair and wig design is exceptional - who would expect less from this creative designer? - and he garbs the cast in grand period styles, with particular attention to the cast's hairstyles. Of course, it helps that the men in this cast have the best hair we've seen onstage in a long time (sure, this sounds really weird, but if you've seen them in action, you know exactly what I mean).

- Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming. Conceived by Alan Bailey. Written by Connie Ray. Musical arrangements by Mike Craver. Directed by Martha Wilkinson. Music direction by Tim Fudge. Proudced by Janie and John Chaffin. At Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre. Through August 28. For reservations, call (615) 646-9977, or visit the company's website at www.dinnertheatre.com for further details.