By Craig and Jennifer Mustoe
Do. Not. Miss. This. Play.
The Foreigner, a hilarious comedy by Larry Shue, focuses on Brit Charlie Baker, played by Rusty Brinkhurst (on some dates—this is double cast), erstwhile science fiction proofreader, boring man and cuckold. He accompanies his friend Froggy LeSueur (played by David F. Marsden), British military explosives expert, to rural Georgia. Froggy leaves Charlie alone at a backwoods fishing lodge owned and operated by his old friend Betty Meeks (Holly Reid) while he goes off for three days on his annual bomb training of U.S. soldiers. Before he leaves, Charlie begs Froggy to find a way so that he won’t have to talk to anyone at the lodge; Charlie believes that he is terminally boring and can never hold an intelligent conversation with anyone. Froggy tells Betty that Charlie is a foreigner, and doesn’t speak a word of English. Betty takes an instant shine to him, as she has always envied the exciting life Froggy leads, traveling around the world and meeting exciting “foreigners.” Now she has one of her own.
Charlie soon encounters a series of characters at the lodge. Catherine (Kari Plott) is young and beautiful and engaged to the Rev. David Marshall Lee (BJ Whimpey.) She has a younger brother, Ellard (Richie Uminsky), who is, well, um … special. He will not receive his half of the inheritance until Catherine certifies that he is intelligent enough to handle it. David has a friend, Owen (Josh Curtis), who is as redneck as they come. He is the new (corrupt) countytax assessor with aspirations to be sheriff. These various characters hold rather private conversations right in front of Charlie, believing that he can’t understand them, and thus, won’t tell their dirty secrets and most personal thoughts and feelings. He is soon known as a great listener.
Soon, Charlie learns of a dastardly plot to steal the lodge and get Catherine’s inheritance. He also learns that she is pregnant by the minister (didn’t we see something like this in The Scarlet Letter?). Ellard goes about teaching Charlie English and he makes re-mark-able progress. Soon Charlie can read Shakespeare like an Oxford master. In the final act the Klan shows up, and we read in another review that she had no idea that the Klan was in the show so we have stated it right here. They are not the good guys by any means, but we wanted you to know.
The set by scenic designer Scott Vandyke was brilliantly designed and quite authentic. It had the hunting-fishing lodge feel to it—complete with mounted fish, poles, nets and other fishing equipment and one set of antlers. There were antique signs all over, too, and a player piano (wait to you see what they do with THIS—was that in the script? I don’t this s–but we loved it.) Jackie Smith as property designer rounds out the set beautifully.
Sound and lighting by Jay M. Clark was spot on (did you see what I did there?). Not one mic failure. Lighting cues perfect. This production had an amazing feature that was used to its best ability—a live band, whose playing helped scene changes fly by. Music director Gary Sorenson’s players: Debbie Cannon on keyboard; Christine Warren and Katie Frandsen on violins, Spencer Hohl—brilliant guitar and banjo; Dan Smith on percussion; Emily Merrill on percussion—was ingenious with his music choices and this alone lent something to this play we’ve never seen before. Authentic downhome Bluegrass at its best.
Costumes by show director Jennie Richardson were simple and believable. Though he doesn’t have much stage time, Froggy’s military outfit was authentic. A nod to Betty’s apron-covered dress, too.
Now, for the actors—we were impressed with how completely solid this performance was. One eensy blip with one line only. Performances were sparkling and startling and smooth. But smooth isn’t what this play is about. Why? Because each actor, led by Jennie Richardson’s deft direction, were exquisitely crafted and brilliantly presented. We love Betty. We hate Owen. We adore Ellard. We feel sorry for Catherine. We giggle with Froggy. We despise the reverend. And we laugh our heads off with the amazing physical acting ability and comic timing of Rusty Bringhurst. His delivery was so perfect, it made our heads spin. We saw audience members guffaw, clap like crazy, practically begging for more.
One last comment—the staff at the Centerpoint Legacy Theater is one of the nicest group of folks we’ve ever interacted with. Kind, helpful, upbeat—total professionalism but so warm—we were very impressed.
This theater is a little out of the way for us in Spanish Fork, though it is right off the freeway. However, we recommend and if we could INSIST you get in your car and get to this show.
The Foreigner
January 11- February 6–dark Sundays 7:30 PM
$14.00-$24.50
The Centerpoint Legacy Theater
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