THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 21, 1995 TAG: 9506200086
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MONTAGUE GAMMON, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
If ever a group found a receptive audience, the Norfolk Musical Theater did so with its fund-raising performance of the short two-act musical ``Fifth Avenue.'' How often in 1995 will any gathering sing along with the old song, ``By the Light of the Silvery Moon?''
``Fifth Avenue,'' put together by local author Jean Geddes, blends a standard plot with recycled tunes. It will doubtless appeal to many who seek the comforts of familiarity when they enter a theater.
The play is set in Manhattan around the turn of our century and recounts a particularly American version of an old fable. When the Irish-American O'Rourke family is suddenly enriched, 17-year-old Maggie is compelled to change her name to Marguerite Farnsworth and her residence from the Bronx to the avenue of the title.
Maggie's parents have arranged her marriage to DePeyster Van Brock who prefers to be called Percy. He is the scion of a family repeatedly referred to as the ``New York Van Brocks.'' Not only must Maggie give up her beloved visits to Coney Island so that she may hobnob with the New York gentry but she must abandon her own true love, Tom Riley.
A funny thing happens on the way to the altar. The impressionable Percy falls for Maggie's dressmaker.
Dennis Allard portrays Van Brock in a way that suggests a deeper moral to the tale. The character's stooping posture, his undernourished and vacant look, his simpering mannerisms and his affectations are ample evidence that his lineage held too many generations of intermarrying cousins.
Good breeding, in the social sense, demands that Van Brock marry within his class. Good breeding, in the biological sense, demands more strongly that he go outside the small gene pool from which his inbred ancestors drew. In choosing to wed a first generation immigrant, he introduces what scientists call hybrid vigor to his stock. The frothy love story can thus be read as a parable of both the social and the genetic advantages of the American ``melting pot.''
All ends happily after the participants have made their feelings known in a series of songs. Geddes has written her own lyrics for several tunes from old musicals and operettas while using other pieces intact.
The two numbers that were wholly original are of particular interest. Geddes wrote music and lyrics for ``There Will Be Flowers on the Table,'' while director Alice Wamsley wrote the music and Geddes the words for ``Stop the Press!'' Both songs unashamedly hold their own in the company of pieces by Rudolph Friml, Victor Herbert and any number of lesser known composers.
It never hurts to remember that the word ``amateur'' means one who does something for the love of that activity. The earnest amateur singers who make up this troupe are drawn to the stage by their devotion and their performances perhaps should not be held to unrealistic critical standards.
Two voices that were literally noteworthy belong to young Heather Nesbitt and to Rosell Carr. Nesbitt played Maggie and Carr had the role of Maggie's cousin, Cissie.
The Norfolk Musical Theater can hardly be accused of elitism, nor of practicing any sort of exclusionary policy in its casting. Many who could find no other outlet for their performing enthusiasm are no doubt grateful for this opportunity.
This does not mean that their work, even allowing for the difficulties of playing in a banquet hall, was for every taste.
The perfectionist might insist that vocalists hit notes accurately or sustain those notes. Some might want all the actors' words to be audible. The particularly demanding might prefer that characters described as recent arrivals to our shores speak in accents somehow related to their country of origin.
But then, the amateur theater is unique. Few other hobbies are practiced so publicly. The stamp and coin collector's accomplishments are seen by only a few. The amateur astronomer, the birdwatcher and the railroad enthusiast finds pleasure in nearly solitary pursuits.
None must summon the courage to face audience approval or critical evaluation. Members of The Norfolk Musical Theater are more to be commended for their courage than faulted for anything else. MEMO: WHAT & WHERE
WHAT: ``Fifth Avenue'' by Jean Geddes
WHEN: One performance, Friday, June 16
WHERE: Grand Affairs, 2036-E Pleasure House Road. by CNB