|
Post-Standard, The (Syracuse,
NY)
May 7, 1999
Section: Weekend
Edition: Final
Page: 27
BITTERSWEET 'JIMMY DEAN' HAS LOTS OF DRAMATIC
POTENTIAL
A talented ensemble cast gives fine
performances in the reunion play.
Suzanne Connelly, Contributing Writer
Appleseed Productions has
chosen an intriguing vehicle for its season finale. "Come Back to the Five
& Dime, Jimmy
Dean, Jimmy Dean" provides
a glimpse into the lives of five members of the Disciples of James Dean.
It is a reunion
play and, like others of
that genre, views the past through the knowledge of the future. The James Dean fan club,
organized in the tiny town of McCarthy, Texas, is staging a 20- year reunion,
and members
Mona, Sissy, Stella May,
Edna Louise and the mysterious Joanne are reunited. In the Kressmont Five
and Dime,
proprietress Juanita is
hosting the event. Playwright Ed Graczyk intersperses flashbacks to the
1950s into the play,
which takes place in 1975.
The script becomes somewhat of a "Truth or Consequences" game, as each
of the
characters' lives is stripped
bare of the falsehoods and self-deceptions that have defined it in the
past. Graczyk's script
is not maudlin or depressing;
rather, there is plenty of laughter. This is a bittersweet drama, with
lots of dramatic
potential. Director Linda Lance has
assembled a talented ensemble who works toward the potential of the play.
She must
double-cast three of the
roles, since a younger and an older Sissy and Mona appear, as well as Joe,
who is transformed
into Joanne. Sue Mahlstedt (Mona) and
Theresa Constantine (Sissy) anchor the cast in strong performances as two
best friends.
Mona has a son she claims
is the offspring of James Dean, who made the movie "Giant" in a nearby
Texas town; the
son's paternity is one theme
in the play. Sissy is promiscuous and profane, a flirt who has always traded
on her good
looks. Mahlstedt's and Constantine's
performances are echoed beautifully by their youthful counterparts. Amanda
Raymond
(Mona then) and Christina
Grizanti (Sissy then) mirror the movements and phrasings of the older actresses
and are
often on stage simultaneously
with them. These dualities are handled seamlessly and well by the quartet. Lois Haas as Juanita is another
constant. She appears in scenes from both eras, mouthing identical platitudes
- some
things never change in a
small town. Haas pulls in some great laughs, especially when she recycles
an already-sipped
Orange Crush right back
into the dispenser. Joseph Coudriet is touching
as the shadowy figure of Jimmy Dean and as Joe, the young man who is hounded
from
the small town and later
transforms himself into Joanne. Anne Sermon handles the role of Joanne
with dignity and
sensitivity. Roseanne Fortino tackles
the role of the loud and irrepressible Stella May with brassy aplomb. She
has brought the
sweetly dumb Edna Louise
(Tina Putrelo) with her. These two are a study in contrasts, as Putrelo
charms in a shy and
vacant way, in contrast
to Fortino's barking laugh. Copyright (c) 1999 The Herald
Company |
