Redemptive Americana: TheatreNOW's 'The Spitfire Grill'

By Mark Langton

Article Launched: 07/01/2008 04:30:38 PM PDT, Marin Independent Journal

As sweet and as corny as Kansas in August, high as a flag on the Fourth of July, if Bruce Springsteen was a Broadway musical he'd be "The Spitfire Grill," TheatreNOW's soaring production of redemptive Americana, playing through July 13 at Novato's Pacheco Playhouse.

Written by composer James Valcq and lyricist Fred Alley, who also collaborated on the book, "Spitfire Grill" has all the sweeping, anthemic grandeur of a Springsteen concert, with its distinctly American themes of triumph against impossible odds and the manifest destiny of a hardscrabble small town. Indeed, you could almost do away with the dialogue and turn it into a full-scale opera (or "folk opera," as mentioned after the show by a member of the cast); it's that universal. Its heart is that huge.

Based on the inexcusably sentimental 1996 movie by Lee David Ziotoff, this production never becomes too precious, thanks to the skillful hand of director Carl Jordan, the towering musical direction of David Shepard and the scaled-down producing talents of Gary Gonser and Parker Lee. While it has the wholesomeness of "Oklahoma!" or "The Music Man," it is not without the darker hues of any song on Springsteen's "Nebraska," or the brooding rock opera of "Born to Run." And with its plot references to rape, incest and manslaughter, "The Spitfire Grill" could never be accused of trafficking in treacle. It lets us know that it's midnight in America -- and this is no time to get cute.

Witness just some of the lyrics of one of its better songs, "Diggin' Stone":

"Shoulder to shoulder / diggin' stone / pay hard cash for all you own / a man is more than blood and bone / when he's shoulder to shoulder / diggin' stone ...."

It has "John Henry," Woody Guthrie and Bruuuuuuce just written all over it.

Still, it is not unlike "The Music Man" in that it follows a timeworn, albeit successful, formula. We've seen it before ("The Foreigner," "The Bishop's Wife," "Being There"). A suspicious stranger comes to town when the curtain rises, and changes everyone for the better by the time it falls.

The stranger in this case is Percy Talbot, a tough-as-nails young woman, fresh out of prison, looking to make a fresh start by taking a job at the local grill in a small, mythical Wisconsin town - a town with the hopeful (indeed, biblical) name of Gilead. Angela Madaline-Johnson plays Percy with all the rough but eventually softened hues of a wild but wounded bird, who gradually lets us know why caged birds sing.

The cast also includes Linda Paplow as the seemingly unfriendly Hannah Ferguson, longtime owner of the Spitfire Grill. (Paplow's is a Cinderella story all its own, having stepped in brilliantly - only three weeks before the show opened - as understudy for original cast member Jamie Kelley, who had to drop out due to a medical emergency); the supremely talented Dani Innocenti-Beem as Shelby Thorpe, abused wife of the defensively macho Caleb (handily played by Bryan Hendon); and Drew Gasparini as the town's handsome young sheriff - two strong and gifted actors who give nuanced renderings of what easily could have been a couple of two-dimensional roles. To her credit, Julie Ekoue-Totou reins in her own prodigious talents as Effy, the town gossip, and Jim Fye and Larry Williams alternate as a mysterious figure in the shadows introduced only as the Visitor.

They are an attractive group, with a pleasing vocal blend (in evidence in ensemble numbers like "Shoot the Moon," "Ice and Snow" and "Come Alive Again"), and if a couple of solos crack (as with Hannah's "Forgotten Lullaby," a must-listen for any kid thinking of shipping out to Iraq) or strain (as with Percy's difficult opener, "A Ring Around the Moon"), it is because they are rendered with a courage and a passion that is easy to forgive.

The challenges of the small Pacheco Playhouse stage are overcome by the brilliant set design of Steve Murch, which has more optical illusions than a drawing by M.C. Escher.

Enough cannot be said about the professionalism of the three generations of women in this cast, who are the standouts of this production - particularly Innocenti-Beem. When her classically trained voice turns to sotto voce ("When Hope Goes," "Wild Bird"), everyone in the audience sounds as if they caught the same cold. She's that good.

Go see this show. Let's try to keep politics outta this, but if you've ever been stirred by a Barack Obama speech, you will be stirred by "The Spitfire Grill" - and for one very good reason: It has the audacity to give us hope.

IF YOU GO

What: "The Spitfire Grill" by James Valcq and Fred Alley

Who: TheatreNOW

Where: Pacheco Playhouse, 484 Ignacio Blvd., Novato

Tickets: $19-$22

Information: 883-4498, http://www.theatrenow.org/, http://www.pachecoplayhouse.org/

Rating: Five out of five stars

Mark Langton can be reached at mark.langton@comcast.net.