Review: SOME ENCHANTED EVENING Brings a Touch of Class at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre

When it comes to theatre, "broad" is not such a bad word. I mean "broad" in terms of unsophisticated, coarse, middlebrow or earthy, not "broad" as in the "broad versus dame" dichotomy of early musical theatre archetypes... though I always did trust the broads more than the dames. No, I'm talking about tone here. Director Greggory Brandt's tenure at Saint Vincent Summer Theatre, with the exception of occasional side ventures into something like Sondheim, has aimed very successfully for that earthier end of the spectrum. They program meat-and-potatoes crowd-pleasers like silly Ken Ludwig farces or nostalgic jukebox shows and revues, often targeted towards the rather large percentage of retirees with disposable income that live in Westmoreland County. This, though, is a different vibe entirely. 

Some Enchanted Evening: The Songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein, as conceived by Jeffrey B. Moss, is a revue in its most pure and classic kind: a few stools, two pianos, five actors mostly in cocktail attire. There's no plot or arc: it's just a lightly sophisticated evening of great songs, sung by five legit voices (how often do we hear TWO leading legit voices in a show anymore, let alone FIVE?) with fantastic talent and subtlety. 

The cast have "types" to a certain extent, though these are arbitrary and mostly based around their voice type. Shane Tapley, a gifted baritone, plays the mature lovers, the roughnecks, the cowboys and laborers of Rodgers and Hammerstein; his slightly abridged "Soliloquy" mines both the gentle humor and the deep passion of the piece. His counterpart is Ryan Sammonds, a tenor with a high, strong voice and evenly-regulated vibrato that would have made him a great star in the Golden Age. Sammonds plays the young lovers, the funny men and the male-ingenue types. One highlight of the show was his performance of "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria" as a comic love song, singing and dancing with a broom as his romantic stand-in. It's a take on the song I had never seen before, and I immediately realized this version of the song would become an audition standard once this revue becomes better known.

When it comes to the equally talented women in the show, the character archetype question becomes fuzzier. Josey Miller plays the funny one, and her lower, heartier mezzo-alto tone lets her tear into classic character pieces like "I Cain't Say No." But even this is an oversimplification, because later in the evening, Miller gets some of the most heartfelt and introspective ballads of heartbreak that Rodgers and Hammerstein ever wrote. She is flanked by two sopranos, Sarah Chelli and Abby Middleton. Middleton gets some of the heavier material when it comes to emotional heft, but sometimes she gets a chance to come out of that shell for a lighter piece. She has that absolutely classic Disney Princess ingenue mezzo-soprano that makes you feel like a kid again every time you hear it. Meanwhile, Sarah Chelli is quickly becoming Saint Vincent's resident chameleon. Seeing her in full Audrey Hepburn glamour, with her high, crystal-clear soprano, you would never believe this is the same actress who gave a delightfully demented and unsettling portrayal of brain damage in Nunsense a season or so ago. 

The show is capably but minimalistically choreographed by Nicole Rae Jones, who wisely knows when to push in a moment of real choreography and when to just sit back and let the actors sing. This is accompanied by music director Hazel Braun and "stunt pianist" Eric Barchiesi; these two lifelong music directors manage to wring a whole orchestra's worth of sound out of two grand pianos when they play the sometimes intricate arrangements together. This is a score that avoids the big hits: there's no "Do Re Mi" or "Getting to Know You," but you'll hear "Empty Room" and "Don't Marry Me." It's refreshing to me as a full-time theatregoer, though probably frustrating for more casual people in the audience who came to hear the old chestnuts brought out again.

I've received word, as I push this article to its close, that Some Enchanted Evening has proved to be one of the biggest hits in Saint Vincent history. That hit status is well-deserved, as I was smiling through the entire evening despite not always loving Rodgers and Hammerstein's work. So, what does this success say about Saint Vincent and its future? Is this shift in tone a coincidence, or a recipe for success? Will we be seeing Ibsen instead of Neil Simon next summer? A Little Night Music instead of Forever Plaid? Or is this just a case of "anything you get at Wendy's is good, because Wendy's is famous for being good and consistent?" As a critic and a theatre maker, I honestly don't know. Playing armchair expert, I'd wager it's a mix of both. Saint Vincent has long catered to what used to be called the blue-hair crowd, as I mentioned above, and this is a generation that knows and loves Rodgers and Hammerstein. But the financial success of this show goes beyond the usual retiree audience counted on to support this theatre group. Variety, I suspect, is the spice of life. People are excited and curious to see something so uncharacteristic at the home of farce and retro revues. Could this be the start of a new tradition at Saint Vincent, a farce, a nostalgia piece and then something sophisticated to close it out? (God, what I wouldn't give to see and hear the similarly smart and classy Disney on the Record live, though the rights have been permanently pulled for it not being "on brand" for Disney Theatricals.) At any case, kudos to Greggory Brandt, his cast and team, and Saint Vincent Summer Theatre at large, for proving they can still surprise us.

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