THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 8, 1996 TAG: 9602080413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
(To be said with a scowl and a twirl of the mustache): ``Heh-heh-heh - tie her up on the railroad tracks - that will teach her a lesson.''
(Keep the scowl and continue the twirl): ``If I don't get the money by tonight - out you go - you and your family - into the blizzard - unless, of course, you marry me.''
She screams.
``Never! Never! I will never marry you, you cad!''
That, friends, is melodrama. Actually, there is nothing mellow about it - and it sure ain't drama. It is overacting and over-reacting, and an opportunity for a performer to make like a meal - take the corn and ham it up.
That is what Center Front, the drama group at the Thomas A. Baum Senior Center in Kill Devil Hills, will be doing Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday.
The dinner theater melodrama production is ``Love Rides the Rails - Or Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?''
The director is Mary Ann Mericle. She and her husband, Paul, who will appear in the production, were involved in the play when they worked with the Burtonsville Players in Burtonsville, Md.
``We were both active in theater there for more than 25 years. We've been with Center Front since it began six years ago,'' she said.
``Love Rides the Rails'' is the longest and most ambitious play yet tackled by Center Front, which usually does one-act productions.
``Our first rehearsal, all the way through, took seven hours,'' Mericle said. ``We'll get it down to two hours.''
About 30 people, many of them stage newcomers, are in the play, which has several sort of rough scenes, including some fights.
``A few men get zonked down. At our ages, that's pretty funny. We have to arrange for them to get back up again,'' Mericle said. ``In one scene the wicked temptress, Carlotta Cortez, gets manhandled. This is a very lively play, but there's no can-can dancing or anything like that.''
There is audience involvement, a staple of melodrama.
``The audience gets to participate - booing the villain, clapping for the hero, encouraging the widow and the heroine,'' Mericle said. ``There are also sing-alongs of familiar old songs.''
One of them, ``By the Sea,'' comes complete with bathing beauties.
There are 24 songs, including ``In the Good Ole Summertime,'' ``Bill Bailey,'' ``Wabash Cannonball'' and the play's theme, ``I've Been Working On the Railroad.''
On top of everything else, there will be olios.
No, it's not a Japanese cookie. It is the word used to describe something interjected during the play or at intermission.
There will be music by the Outer Banks Barbershop Quartet, a performance by those bathing beauties, a bit by some of the actors and actresses about Outer Banks tourists, and some fancy steppin' by the Baum Shell Line Dancers.
The music accompaniment will be provided by Betty Ann Campbell - conductor and whole orchestra.
She will be playing twin pianos.
The honky-tonk piano will be used for singalongs and some of the big numbers; the clavinova provides a less rowdy sound.
It will be a rowdy evening but, in the tradition of melodrama, it should provide a lot of crazy fun. ILLUSTRATION: DREW C. WILSON
The Virginian-Pilot
``Love Rides the Rails - Or Will the Mail Train Run Tonight?'' will
have a cast of about 30, many of them stage newcomers. The dinner
theater performance will include audience singalongs.
THEATER PREVIEW
WHAT: Center Front presents, ``Love Rides the Rails - Or Will the
Mail Train Run Tonight?''
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m.
Tuesday. A buffet dinner will be served before the Friday, Saturday
and Sunday performances.
WHERE: The Thomas A. Baum Senior Center in Kill Devil Hills.
The cost is $13 per person for the dinner and play for the first
three days. The Tuesday performance will not include dinner, and
the cost is $3. Tickets must be purchased in advance. There is a
sign-up sheet at the center, or call 441-1100.
by CNB