*Tickets Still Available for Tonight’s Closing Performance of
Arsenic and Old Lace
*
By
Shayla Brinkerhoff
Slipping into the tiny shop front next to the theatre, I felt as if I’d stumbled upon a secret meeting. The hive was abuzz with a thrill I didn’t yet share, but I wanted to. With each swing of the door, greetings rang out and everyone shuffled a bit in the standing-room-only space. A newcomer to Vernal and its booming theatre scene, I studied the banner in the window full of fliers for each of the previous productions next door. An impressive assembly. Soon it would be joined by
Arsenic and Old Lace
, the show we all waited for. The Curtain Call, as this place is titled, is for enthusiasts to gather before the doors open, get their sweet fix, and savor the hype. Makeshift but cheerful, with a delightful selection of goodies, it served its purpose. I highly recommend the macarons.
As soon as the doors to Vernal Theatre: LIVE opened, there was a quick exodus. No one wanted to miss the special preshow, ringing in the 100th performance of the still new performing arts theatre. The building itself, constructed in the 1940s, has clearly been renovated sparingly to preserve the character of its era while meeting the technical standards of the 21st century. Green floral carpet is the first impression, followed by the simplistically retro concessions. A cast member in full costume handed me my program before I found my seat. Nashelle Jackson, owner and operator, played MC to the festivities. She described the arc of the little theatre company that could, from the simple set of
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown
, to the far more impressive one behind her. She enumerated the growing number of participants from Season One to the current Season Three, many of them fresh each year.
Actors soon joined her to reprise select songs from previous productions, several pieces such as
The Plaids’
“Crazy About You Baby,” with mic stands swinging in synchrony, to “Lily’s Eyes,” from
The Secret Garden
. This one required no choreography, only the outstanding vocals of the duet, which hushed the theatre even as patrons continued to stream in. Nashelle returned with two big announcements:
High School Musical Junior
coming this summer, and
Matilda
as the Season 4 opener in September. To wrap the preshow with a bang, there were raffles for audience members. And of course, there was the audience selfie, taken from the stage with all 250 attendees in frame. Only this time, a sea of party hats appeared to mark the occasion. Then the show began.
Arsenic and Old Lace
opens with characters that seem familiar enough, until they aren’t. The maiden aunts, Abby (Midge Spaulding) and Martha Brewster (MarKay Anderson), are generous and beloved, if a little gossipy. Their nephew Mortimer Brewster (Daniel Jackson), seems to fit a type as well: the up-and-coming young man with a promising career and charming new fiancee (Laura Chynoweth as Elaine Harper). Of course there’s the outrageous Teddy Brewster (Luke Batty), the second Brewster brother who thinks he’s Teddy
Roosevelt
, but he might just be typical comic relief. It is not yet apparent that his lunacy is the tip of the iceberg for what we later realize is a universal crazy gene in the family. Mortimer’s aloof and self-interested demeanor is quickly overthrown at the revelation that his dear aunts are remorseless serial killers. The greatest strength of the play is in the juxtaposition of Abby and Martha’s syrupy sweetness with their shameless habit of poisoning lonely bachelors, in particular as it meets Mortimer’s hysteria. The majority of the shows’ laughs come from Mortimer’s antics to resolve an impossible situation, and keep Elaine in the dark.
The situation becomes even more impossible with the arrival of Jonathan Brewster (Dawson Norton), Mortimer’s long-lost brother and the craziest of all. His body count is no less than his aunts’, but the knuckle-cracking rage he carries is the antithesis to their poise. His spineless companion Dr. Einstein (Spencer Johnson) plays both the accomplice and the good shoulder angel (to no avail). I watched from the edge of my seat as no fewer than four police officers cycled through the aunts’ house, repeatedly, in a game of “Will they or won’t they [discover the bodies in the cellar]?” Each time Steven Merrell came onstage, assuming three wildly different and character-y roles, I marveled at his accent and isms. His ability to shape-shift borders on the paranormal. And again, Teddy—POTUS/not-POTUS Teddy—proves to be more than the blustering “funny fat guy” that he calls himself. His role does inject some hilarious absurdity, but it also manages to bring together all the dangling threads in a resolution that both satisfies and teases.
You can see the final performance of
Arsenic and Old Lace
tonight at 7:00 PM
. There are still many seats available. Get your tickets online at
www.vernaltheatre.com/tickets
or call
435-219-2987
. I’m so glad I didn’t miss it!
Vernal Theatre,
40 East Main Street, Vernal, UT 84078
Tickets: $8-10
