By Charlene Baldridge
SDUN Theatre Critic
Opening night pre-curtain and pre-Act II cheerleaders were Artistic Director Carlos Mendoza and Marketing and Public Relations Director Ryan Fahey. Both whooped it up, asking if everyone was having a good time. Fahey even announced that he would play the role of Cornelius in Starlight’s upcoming “Hello, Dolly.” It doesn’t get more “aw shucks!” Perhaps that’s in keeping with Starlight’s 1946 origins, when just about everyone did it for love.
Starlight, which has had its financial ups and downs recently, is operating this season with a non-union orchestra. Longtime conductor Parmer Fuller is no more on the podium, and for “Suds,” excellent San Diego composer/keyboardist Rayme Sciarone is music director, keyboardist and conductor with four additional players in the pit.
Perhaps in an effort to make sure that the four actor/singers – Samantha Mills as Cindy, Anise Ritchie as Marge, Courtney Corey as Dee Dee, and Kürt Norby as all the Men – will be heard in the 4,200-seat amphitheatre, sound designer Jennifer Edwards cranks it up to the highest decibel. The results are seldom balanced between singer and other singers and between singers and orchestra. Sadly, the musical numbers, which include such ‘60s hits as “Are You Lonesome Tonight?,” “Please Mr. Postman” and “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” range mostly from loud to louder. Also sadly, “close harmony” sometimes means singers are close to pitch, but not on it; but it’s so loud and so cute and so colorful, maybe no one will notice.
Suicidal Cindy works as a Laundromat attendant. It is her birthday and she discovers with the arrival of the mail that she is responsible for some deceased relatives’ IRS debt; that her cat, Fluffy, has been killed by a Corvair; and that her pen-pal boyfriend has dumped her for someone with better penmanship.
When the Clorox bottle proves empty, and the plastic knife won’t cut her wrists, she ties some long johns around her neck and attempts strangulation by washing machine. Along come competitive guardian angels Marge and Dee Dee, who set about solving all of Cindy’s problems by finding her a new boyfriend. Ridiculous that a man is all one needs to solve one’s predilection for suicide, but hey, the entire thing is ridiculous and inane, and that is its appeal. Fluffy, mindless entertainment is good for what ails you, though the audience applauded less loudly as the evening wore on. Let’s blame the sameness, the incessant airplanes and a certain lack of truthiness emanating from the company. In order to play this material successfully, one has to believe. Norby is the only one who comes close to sincerity. In his seriousness one finds hilarity. The rest is all chatter and noise.
“Suds”
8 p.m. Thursdays-Sundays though July 4
Starlight Bowl
2005 Pan American Plaza
Balboa Park
Tickets $10-$75 (see website for Kids Free program)
starlighttheatre.org
232-STAR
