On my first two jaunts westward to sample Columbia's theater scene, I've watched lethal French aristocrats destroy each other with hyperactive sexual malice ("Dangerous Liaisons"), and a tortured Spanish priest named Ambrosio commit double murder while under Satan's spell. (Or was he?)
It seemed the Howard County performing arts community didn't walk on the lighter side.
But after taking in Rep Stage's current production of Alan Ayckbourn's "Dreams From a Summer House," I know Howard County actors can do whimsy with the best of them.
Take your basic dotty British family fresh and superimpose it atop the ironic fairyland milieu of Stephen Sondheim's "Into the Woods" and you rather have the gist of this dizzy and clever, if unwieldy, play.
Robert, a cynical, young booze-guzzling painter once married to Amanda, has been invited for a weekend at his former in-laws' summer house. While finishing his illustrations for a new edition of "Beauty and the Beast," he conjures Beauty -- Belle -- to life and instantly falls in love with her.
Belle can understand English only when it is sung, so Robert and his hosts are warbling out operatic recitatives to this strange visitor.
But where there's a Beauty, can the Beast be far behind? As fanciful havoc is wreaked in a second act -- which could have used a more merciless editor -- great lessons are learned.
Thus is "Dreams From a Summer House" a hybrid affair: a stage comedy with significant musical interludes tossed in as Belle goes operatic. John Pattison's score won't have you whistling much on the way home, but there are clever musical bits and a few genuinely adept musical moments.
None of it, would stand for a moment without the glorious cast assembled by director Nick Olcott. We get immensely witty performances from every player on stage. The characters flow past with a fizzy authority that makes the action play out delightfully.
Richard Bradbury is just fine as the illustrator looking for ideal love and plays beautifully off his Belle, Susan Wheeler, who is the real thing vocally. Wheeler is a veteran of the Annapolis Opera, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia and the Washington Savoyards.
Mary Ellen Nester is hilariously funny as the spaced-out matron doing her best to impress her supernatural visitor and she is paired with a suitably absent-minded English husband played impeccably by Arthur Laupus.
Peggy Yates' Amanda is as shrewish as she is beautiful, and I adored Brian McMonagle as her quintessentially nerdy, devoted husband.
Scott Sedar has trouble staying in tune during some of Baldemar the Beast's vocal passages, but he is great fun to watch as he sells his "Birdie Going Tweet Tweet Tweet" number.
Stealing significant portions of the show is A. K. Brink as Mel, the family's youngest daughter living out a love story of her own. The playwright draws her a little strangely early, but she turns out to be a strong presence whose inner and outer beauty come through loud and clear, courtesy of this talented young actress who can also sing.
Let me compliment the cast further. Five minutes or so into Friday's performance, a fire alarm malfunction caused the play to stop so the theater could be cleared. Several minutes later, the play continued without a hitch. As I drove home with my 12-year-old son (who loved the play), Benjamin mentioned the disruption. I had forgotten about it. I guess the cast had my attention.
"Dreams From a Summer House" plays at Smith Theatre at Howard Community College on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through March 28. Tickets: 410-772-4900.
Pub Date: 3/18/99