Thursday night found Mrs. K and me at the Basile Westfield Playhouse for opening night of Daniel Sullivan’s 1991 play, Inspecting Carol. Director Kelly Keller writes that he looked for something “different and interesting” to produce as a Christmas show and he surely found it in this mad-cap crowd-pleaser.
Tanya Haas sharply leads the way as overwrought theatre director Zorah Bloch, ensconced in rehearsals for her company’s annual production of A Christmas Carol. Informed that the theatre group is in financial straits by managing director Kevin Emery (an ideally anxious Jim Gryga), a wannabe auditioner named Wayne Wellacre (an aptly amateurish Jeff Haber) is mistaken to be a National Endowment for the Arts “inspector” who has come to evaluate the troupe for grant giving purposes. All manner of mayhem breaks loose with attempts to please him.
Add in Scott Prill’s well-played Larry Vauxhall, an undisciplined performer who once decided to offer his Scrooge role entirely in Spanish (as a protest), and who eggs on the mis-labeled untheatrical Wayne to add socially aware lines of dialogue to the Dickens classic. The story goes off the rails and on into havoc soon after.
Jeff Haber as Wayne Wellacre (left) encounters Scott Prill as Larry Vauxhall. (Photo by Rob Slaven / IndyGhostLight.com)
Solid performances by the many other cast members fill the stage with a large account of jokes, pratfalls, silly attitudes, and zany characters. Of note are Jennifer Poynter as stage manager M.J., Trever Brown as Phil, Brad Burns as Sidney, Cathie Morgan as Sidney’s wife Dorothy, and Malcolm Marshall as Walter.
On the critiquing side, I feel that many of these actors could apply better projection skills to send their voices out, especially in the earlier scenes; and better enunciation should be stressed as well.
Bottom line: Although the show is uneven at times in its energies, it is well-paced with many very good characterizations. Much of the humor landed correctly for the opening night crowd and was well appreciated.
Main Street Productions’ Inspecting Carol runs at the Basile Westfield Playhouse through Dec. 10. Curtain times are Thursday/Friday/Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at WestfieldPlayhouse.org.
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