A most respectable tradition
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Sage Merritt / News Virginian
Published: February 6, 2008
A mixture of Baldwin traditions - including a biennial Gilbert and Sullivan production, a long-time director, a stalwart group of local acting veterans and the song "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" - blend together to make "The Sorcerer," opening Friday at Fletcher Collins Theater in Deming Hall, the newest chapter in a community theater institution.
"We've been doing Gilbert and Sullivan at Mary Baldwin since the '80s, every other year," said Terry Southerington, producer of "The Sorcerer." "We've done most of the biggies, but this is the first time we've done 'The Sorcerer.' It's not really well known - it doesn't have quite the status of 'H.M.S. Pinafore' and 'Pirates of Penzance' and so on - but it's classic Gilbert and Sullivan. Gorgeous, absolutely beautiful music, and the sillier the plot the better."
This particular "silly" plot features two young lovers, Alexis (played by Hank Fitzgerald) and Aline (Shae Armstrong), whose parents (played by James D. Kiser and Rachel Ellenberger) were also once in love long ago. The besotted Alexis, who believes that love should be embraced by all, hires a sorcerer, John Wellington Wells (played by Bob Wright), of a "most respectable firm" of London sorcerers, to spike the tea at the couple's engagement celebration with a love potion. Naturally, all the townspeople fall in love - with the wrong people.
"It's absolutely fun, and that's what's important," said Frank Southerington, director of "The Sorcerer," the latest production in his roughly 30-year history of directing biennial Gilbert and Sullivan operettas at the college. "Sullivan is a really important musician and he really knows what he's doing. To get the combination of absolutely wonderful music and an absolutely silly plot with absolutely silly words is marvelous, and it's half the joke. In all this time, you get this wonderful music, and they're pulling the rug out from under it."
The traditions that surround the biennial Gilbert and Sullivan productions are numerous - "We have 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' in every Gilbert and Sullivan we do," Terry Southerington explained - and include strong ties to the Staunton theater community at large. The female cast of "The Sorcerer" features a talented group of Mary Baldwin students, some just starting out in the college's theater program and others experienced performers in MBC productions and elsewhere. The male half of the cast, on the other hand, features a number of local theater veterans who have worked with the Southeringtons in area community theater and performed the men's roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas and other productions at Mary Baldwin for years.
"Mary Baldwin always casts the women's roles from the student body, but the men's roles are played by men," Terry Southerington said. "Of course, as most people know, Staunton has an enormously active theater community, and it's great getting all these guys in here. We've been working with them here at Baldwin, we've been working with them out at The Oak Grove. It's a lot of the same guys, but there's always new faces, too.
"If you had to pin me down, I don't remember when I started working with Mike Lafferty, for example," she added. "But I vividly remember the first time we started working with [Michael] Vayvada. It was at The Oak Grove, in a show called 'Runs in the Family,' and we've been doing stuff with him ever since. Then they dragged in Stuart [Thomas], and he's been doing stuff with us ever since, and then Bronson [Anderson] got involved, Ken Whipple, Dick Coleman -"
"It's out of loyalty," said Michael Lafferty, who has worked with The Oak Grove and Waynesboro Players as well as Mary Baldwin. "We've been good friends for years. They do plays for me and I do plays for them, and it's all fun."
Another veteran of area community theater bringing her talents to the mix is Leslie Rueff, a Mary Baldwin alumna also active in the Waynesboro Players and The Oak Grove. Rueff provides musical direction for "The Sorcerer."
"In her student years she was always the high soprano," Terry Southerington said. "Now she has sort of graduated, both literally and figuratively, and is now doing musical direction."
The combination is a great opportunity for everyone involved, according to Frank Southerington - particularly the students, who benefit from the mentorship of the experienced local actors.
"I was really pleased last year when we did 'The Cherry Orchard' and somebody from Ash Lawn came to see it and liked it," the director said. "She sent a note afterwards saying that it was really great that the students got to work with these seasoned professional actors, and of course they are not professional actors, but they are seasoned and I was very pleased. This a woman who puts on opera every year."
"The Sorcerer" runs on Feb. 8-9 and 13-16 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 10 and 17 at 2 p.m. Tickets, $5 for students and seniors and $10 for adults, may be purchased at the box office Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by calling 887-7189 during regular box office hours. Sell-out is expected, so plan to reserve tickets early.
"We always have a full audience for Gilbert and Sullivan," Terry Southerington said. "They love it because it's so much fun."
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