First, let me compliment the Scottsdale Community Players and newly crowned Artistic Director T. John Weltzien for scoring this coup. To be the company that offers the World Premiere of a musical by Dale Wasserman, the creator of Man of La Mancha, is a great accomplishment. From here, though, commenting on A Walk in the Sky becomes a matter of taste. If your fancies run toward the cutesy, the folksy, and the hokey-limited in action and long on guffaws-then this show is a winner. If, like me, you'd prefer a little meat on the bones of the script, a rising action that involves actual drama, and characters with greater than one facet, you'll be disappointed.
Mr. Wasserman's creation comes from his interest in the Wild West of the early-to-mid 19th century. He specifically cites Mountain Men, a group of gruff pre-settlers who spent their time trapping in the Rocky Mountains, working in harmony with Native Americans. He creates a tale of three mountain men, similar to most comedic triplets. He throws into the mix two Native Americans, a minister, his sour wife, and an unrelated young boy who escape a wagon train's ambush, and ties it up with a storyteller, the Story Spinner, who is the Leading Player from Pippin's goody-goody twin separated at birth. In this young boy's rite of passage, he must decide if he'd rather live with the wild Mountain Men, or go on to California with the pious greenhorn couple starting a new life.
The Friday night audience enjoyed the show, applauding each hummable tune and swallowing the cotton-candy situations, fans of light and cheery, all. I, on the other hand, with my brooding ways and reverence of all things Sondheim, gagged on the syrupy-sweet confection. I couldn't differentiate between each of Allan Jay Friedman's upbeat tunes, which sounded as though they were written with hopes of selling to a pop singer after the show hit Broadway. I grew bored with the limited, static dramatic action. The glorious, positive musical comedies of Broadway's Golden Age give you more drama and life-affecting topics. Even terminally perky shows like South Pacific and Flower Drum Song deal with racism and social injustice. But, thin as the plot is, the audience reveled in it.
The problems of the piece could not be blamed on Director Michael Lancy who creates many nice stage pictures, or the actors, who sell it as though it really matters. The Mountain Men, Jeremie J. McCubbin, Gene Ganssle, and Chris Ericksen, play as broadly as possible to cover the inane situations and limp script. Mr. Weltzien and Heidi Ewart, as preacher and misses, are enjoyable, although Ms. Ewart's initial rigidity is nearly unavoidably stereotypical. Cory Kotas is a solid Elisha "Boone" Elliot, who must go through a transformation as bland as library paste, and the Native American's, Shannon Rivers and Todd Grossman, do what they can not to offend the sensibilities of native cultures. Mr. Grossman, in particular, does a wonderful acrobatic bit in the second act that is as beautiful as it is completely useless to the moment. As the Story Spinner, a part that draws attention to the ineptitude of the script, Michael Patrick Collins is very impressive in voice and presentation, even when asked to toss Shakespeare's words to the audience for no real reason whatsoever.
Jerry Wayne Harkey does a great job directing the onstage band, accompanying Janie Ellis' simplistic, unremarkable choreography. The technical presentation supporting this piece is very nice. The unit set is very well designed by Mr. Weltzien, and beautifully lit by Michael J. Eddy. Timothy C. Slope's costumes are very impressive, and, despite some microphone problems, David Temby's sound design is solid.
I've heard that this play was meant to be more educational than dramatic, but even this desire was missed. Here is a list of what I learned from A Walk in the Sky: Mountain Men are comedic; pioneers traveling through the Rocky Mountains are greenhorns; Native Americans are amazing gymnasts; and a bitter woman can turn into a nice one when a child's welfare is in jeopardy. If escapist theatre is your treat, I recommend this piece to you. All fellow-brooders like me should stand warned.
Production Details:
A Walk in the Sky A New Musical
by Dale Wasserman, with Music by Allan Jay Friedman
Scottsdale Community
Players
Stagebrush Theatre, Scottsdale
(480) 990-7405
September 8th - October 1st, 2000