theater:: May 11, 2005

Openings juxtapose juicy grit with meaty dust

By WHITNEY SPOTTS

In 2002, Icarus Falling presented the Midwestern premiere of Graham Farrow’s

Photo by Linda Granger The townsfolk fall under con man Starbuck’s (Martin Underhill, center) spell in ‘110 Degrees in the Shade.’

“Talk About the Passion.” The production was so successful that director Jeff Croff is offering the official world premiere of Farrow’s “Lake of Fire.”

“In this one,” Croff says, “a heroin-addicted rock star is trying to clean up in his home after being placed under house arrest. Unfortunately for a burglar who believed press that said he was in the studio, he’s at home, and the burglar finds himself facing a heroin-addicted rock star with a gun.”

In a bizarre twist of plot, it turns out that Stamp, the burglar, has specifically targeted Curtis because of the musician’s well-publicized $500-a-day drug habit. Stamp’s plan is to steal the stash and the star’s money so that he can strike back at the drug dealers responsible for his own brother’s death.

The role of Curtis fell to Icarus Falling’s newest ensemble member, Markitwia

Jackson. “We talked about the fact that he was going to have to stop eating for three or four weeks, but he found that he likes food, so…” Croff trails off, laughing. Robin Harris will play Stamp, while his deceased brother Jinky will appear in flashback, played by Allan Ross. The small cast is rounded out by Kevin Knights as Redmond, a bitter, tightly wound policeman, and Emily Stevens as Redmond’s wife Claire.

The one-act play was originally set in England, but with some setting and dialogue changes has been relocated to Detroit.

“This is pretty much a gritty bit of escapist drama,” Croff says. “There isn’t any great meaning of life coming out of this, so much as the chance to watch very much of a pulp story along the lines of ‘NYPD Blue’ — sort of a gritty slice of life.”

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The Lansing Civic Players’ final season offering features drama of an entirely different kind with the musical “110 Degrees In the Shade.” The 1964 musical is based on the 1954 play “The Rainmaker” by N. Richard Nash (most well known for the 1956 movie version starring Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn). Director Linda Granger was encouraged to take on the musical version after directing “Carousel” for LCP. “It’s been five years,” Granger says, “and I finally got up the courage to do another musical. It’s just a massive undertaking.”

Like “Carousel,” Granger says “110 Degrees” has a more depth to it than many musicals — “I like shows with some meat to them,” she explains. The story, set in the drought-ridden 1930s, rotates around the slipping-toward-spinsterhood Lizzie Curry (LeAnn Dethlefsen), whose down-to-earth, straightforward manner earns her the epithet “plain.” Potential suitors are put off, though her family is pushing her toward File, the town sheriff (David Sincox).

But town dynamics change with the arrival of scam artist and self-proclaimed “rainmaker” Starbuck (Martin Underhill), who promises to end the town’s drought with a rainfall for $100. Throughout the show, Starbuck sets about convincing Lizzie that she is beautiful, no matter what social standards may say. “It’s really about being true to yourself,” Granger says.

The show garnered a Tony award nomination for composer Harvey Schmidt and lyricist Tom Jones, who wrote “The Fantasticks” in 1959.

Granger is joined in production by music director Takis Pizanis, music director of the 2003 LCP production of “Annie”; choreographer Elizabeth Todd, who was responsible for the choreography in last winter’s “Meshuggah Nuns”; and a large cast of 36 in this

dustbowl drama.

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