THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602230180
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: Montague Gammon III
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
All the game efforts of the Little Theater of Portsmouth, including an amusingly designed and painted set, some good acting and some lively singing, didn't conceal the fact that ``The Saloonkeeper's Daughter'' is a stupid, stupid script.
This does not mean it is foolish or silly, in the inspired and exaggerated ways that have made other comic melodramas enjoyable when the Little Theater has staged them. It means that it is dumb because the authors didn't respect the intelligence of their viewers.
Despite the script, some surprisingly good, even realistic acting cropped up when Carl Hansen took the stage as Parson Kindly in a recent Portsmouth production. He was funny in the first act, and remarkably commanding in the second.
Marti Craver was funny as Lily White, and had some convincingly romantic duets with Jim DiMunno as her cowboy admirer Rusty Witts.
Tammy Soccio is another comic talent, well cast as Charity Kindly. She and Craver were the real singers in the cast.
The role of Red White was played by Dick Greene. Seedy Schlepper was played by veteran O.W. Rodrigues, and Cinnamon Hickey by Alice Everhart. Adam Ivey made much of the part of Mannly Rasch.
Bob Goodnough played Grimy Geezer, David Ruane played Blackie White. Kathlyn Baker and Eva Bright were cast as the saloon girls Sally Forth and Molly Bolt.
Tom Falls directed. The set was designed by Don Bowers and painted by Kathleen Carlson, Kathy Irwin and Lee Deans. by CNB