"What I love is that this is not the movie," Brad Faust said of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which opens tomorrow in the Toledo Repertoire Theatre. The 1958 film starring Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, and Burl Ives romanticized Tennessee Williams' themes to appeal to a broader audience, Faust said. Those themes are greed, repressed homosexuality, sexual frustration, sibling rivalry, and lying, which are pretty common now, but in 1955, when the play opened on Broadway, they were bombshells.
Williams won a Pulitzer Prize for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, but it opened too late in the season to be considered for the Tony Awards. "When Gloria [Moulopoulos, artistic director of the Rep] approached me about directing this play, I was really hesitant," Faust said. "If you don't have the right people to do these roles, you don't even want to touch it.
" Fortunately, he said, Williams' portrait of a rich southern family attracted the right cast, headed by Kate Abu-Absi as the passionate Maggie and Matt Kizaur as her alcoholic, sexually uninterested husband, Brick. Jeff Albright and Carol Ann Erford play Brick's parents, Big Daddy and Big Momma. Abu-Absi has performed in the EdgyRepReading of The Deconstruction of Hamlet, and she directed the University of Toledo's staged reading of The African Company Presents Richard III.
Kizaur has appeared in the Village Players' productions of Much Ado About Nothing and A Doll's House, and he played Hamlet to Abu-Absi's Ophelia in The Deconstruction of Hamlet. Albright and Erford are Toledo theater veterans, having appeared in, among many others, The Odd Couple, Our Town, Born Yesterday, Mornings at Seven, Conversations with My Father, Sly Fox, and The Oldest Profession. Also appearing in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof are Heath Huber and Cindy Bilby as Brick's brother and sister-in-law, Gooper and Mae.
"When you see Mae and Gooper coming onstage, you'll get goosebumps," Faust said. "They may steal the show." Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is scheduled at 8 p.
m. tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 19, 20, and 25-27, with matinees at 2 p.
m. Jan. 21 and 28 in the Toledo Repertoire Theatre, 16 10th St.
Tickets are $18. Information: 419-243-9277. Ms.
Rose's Dinner Theater in Perrysburg is presenting a preview of sorts this weekend, two performances of The Lady with All the Answers. The one-woman show about Ann Landers, starring Patricia Rudes, will have a month-long run in May. The Lady with All the Answers is scheduled at 8 p.
m. tomorrow and Saturday in Ms. Rose's Dinner Theater, 25740 North St.
Rt. 25, Perrysburg. Tickets are $43, and doors open at 6 p.
m. for the dinner buffet, which is included in the price. Information: 419-874-8505 or www.
dcranch.net. Fremont Community Theatre opens the new year with the murder mystery Drop Dead!
Tim Bolton directs Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore's tale of comedic mayhem during rehearsals for and the opening night of a new play, as cast members are murdered, sets collapse, and careers are endangered. "Drop Dead!" is scheduled at 8 p.
m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m.
Sundays in the Fremont Community Theatre, 1551 Dickinson St., Fremont. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, students, and children.
Information: 419-332-0775. Colorful multisized puppets bring to life the Mexican fable of Matias and the Strawberry Cake in Ada, Ohio. The show is recommended for youngsters ages 4-10, their parents, and anyone else who enjoys delightful entertainment.
"Matias and the Strawberry Cake" is scheduled at 8 p.m. tomorrow and 2 and 8 p.
m. Saturday in the Freed Center for the Performing Arts at Ohio Northern University. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and students, and $9 for children.
Information: 419-772-1900. In Lima, Ohio, the Amil Tellers of Dramatics presents Tribute, Bernard Slade's comedic drama about Scottie Templeton, an irrepressible, irresponsible Broadway agent who is brought up short when he learns that he has a fatal illness. His major regret is his deep estrangement from his son, Jud, which Scottie is determined to heal, but it won't be as easy as he thinks.
For the Encore Theatre production, Richard Minick plays Scottie Templeton and Chris Thompson is Jud. Others in the cast are Charlie Diefenbacher, Linda Gabriele, Kacie Graham, Cindy Lincoln, and Peggy Matheny. Christopher Butturff directs.
"Tribute" opens tomorrow and runs through Jan. 21. Shows are scheduled at 8 p.
m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m.
Sundays in the Encore Theatre: 991 North Shore Dr., Lima. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $7 for youths ages 12 and younger.
Information: 419-223-8866, 800-944-1441, or www.amiltellers.org.
News RSS