THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503210112
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Bringing a comic book to life generally assures that a stage will be full of colorful images and frantic movement, and so it is with The Hurrah Players' production of ``Starmites.''
But the characters of superhero comic books are usually as two-dimensional as their artwork, and their personalities have no more subtlety than do their broad brush strokes and garish, simple coloring. This too is true of ``Starmites,'' though the performance of Sarah Garvey-Potvin stands out, especially in her earliest scenes, for her intelligent, detailed characterization as well as for her fine voice. Her talents, and the energy and natural appeal of the young Hurrah Players troupe, strive to redeem a script that is basically hollow.
Garvey-Potvin alternates with Jennifer Miller in the role of a teenaged girl named Eleanor. Obsessed with the comics she has collected by the hundreds, Eleanor dreams of escaping from a ``friendless life on earth'' into their heroic fantasies.
One of her favorite series is about the ``Starmites,'' a group of youngsters who battle the evil Shak Graa in a dimension called Inner Space. After one particularly upsetting argument with her unsympathetic mother, Eleanor finds herself transported to Inner Space as the prophesied savior of Inner Space and of Earth.
She and the Starmites set out on a quest for a magic electric guitar called The Cruelty, which must be possessed if Earth and Inner Space are to be rescued from whatever vague apocalyptic threat is posed by Shak Graa. Unsurprisingly, she falls in love with the handsome head Starmite called Space Punk.
There is a strange little reptilian creature called Trinculus who joins Space Punk and Eleanor on their quest, and there are a group of ``women with dangerous hairdos'' called Banshees who capture the Starmites as they make their way through the Shriekwood Forest.
Unfortunately, for all the talk about various dangers and quasi-magical powers, nothing much really happens in between the song and dance numbers, which themselves fell prey last Friday to muddy sounding amplification.
Shak Graa, played by Michael LeMelle, looms up now and then to intone a few deep-voiced threats, followed by a stereotypically evil laugh and a predictable swirl of his cape before he exits. The Banshee leader Diva, a part in which Aisha McCollum and Tiffany Howard alternate, imitates every Tina Turner wannabee.
Tyler Marcum plays Trink with winsome appeal and moments of real wit and carries off his featured number, ``The Cruelty Stomp,'' most entertainingly. Marcum shares the role with Old Dominion University veteran Keith Butler. Trey Ore acts and sings well as Space Punk, getting some exceptionally good lines when the script is not taking itself seriously.
If all the writing were on the level of Space Punk's wry asides, the play would be a minor masterpiece of social satire. As it is, the authors were too interested in paying camp homage to the cliches of the comics. MEMO: AT A GLANCE
WHAT: ``Starmites.''
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: Pavilion Theater.
TICKETS: Call 627-5437 or 623-7418. by CNB