THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 26, 1995 TAG: 9507260394
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The characters are familiar, the characterizations outstanding in the Anglers Cove Dinner Theater production, ``Wrong Turn at Lungfish.''
You can hear wonderful dialogue ranging from witty to politically correct.
The characters are Peter Ravenswaal, a defrocked bitter college dean who has gone blind; Anita Merendino, a street-smart but not school-smart heart-gold digger; a no-name sarcastic nurse who is impatient with her patient; and Dominic De Caesar (is there any doubt about his nationality?), who comes complete with leather jacket and a Fonzy attitude - though much meaner.
You've seen them all before, in one form or another, and you've heard the story before - a bitter, older, sightless gent is slowly but surely turned into a bowl of mush by a gold-hearted, but not too bright, female.
The cast at Anglers Cove makes you care about these people, their stories, and their problems.
Jim Bridges offers a remarkable portrayal of the blind patient, - the setting is a New York City hospital room - capturing his sightlessness unbelievably well.
Contacts? Some kind of something in the eyes?
``No,'' Bridges said after the show - ``just acting.''
He is acting in a part that seems to have been written for him, the lines so fitting for the area's resident over-50 agnostic liberal.
Ravenswaal questions authority and the deity, talks about evolution (the lungfish is in that cycle - breathing on land and water), and he even gets the chance to accuse large corporations of ``raping'' the public.
He cannot understand the logic of his newfound female friend who tells him that being beaten up by her boyfriend is just a way of life for her.
Tammy Collins, the female friend, is outstanding. Emotionally, she keeps up with Bridges in her own way. At times, to get her point across, she stutters excessively, but she digs in and offers a classic portrayal - believable and honest.
``Wrong Turn at Lungfish,'' which sometimes resembles a mix of ``Pygmalion'' and ``Butterflies Are Free,'' is strictly adults-only.
There is a seduction scene which has the audience gulping. If it ran for one more minute the audience would have been gasping.
The most effective scene comes at the end.If you're not chocked up, check your compassion quotient.
What makes the play work so well is the excellent portrayals by Bridges and Tammy Collins.
Her real-life husband, Craig Collins, is her onstage boyfriend. He is a convincing Mafia-type.
Corrie M. Blumling does a handsome job as the nurse who seems to be the only medical person working in the hospital, and at all hours.
Be prepared to become deeply and emotionally involved. ILLUSTRATION: THEATER PREVIEW
What: Dinner Theater at Anglers Cove presents ``Wrong Turn at
Lungfish.''
When: Friday and Sunday; and Aug. 1 and 4, 5 and 6. Dinner is
served at 6:30. The play starts at 8 p.m. except Sundays, when the
hours are 5:30 and 7 p.m.
by CNB