Classical Music and modern Theatre Entertain GF

Last week was a busy one for Grand Forks arts patrons, with the North Valley Arts Council’s annual meeting/artist of the year award/art auction, the final weekend of the CATS children’s theatre production of “Aladdin” at the Empire Arts Center, Red River High School drama department’s staging of “The Foreigner,” and the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra’s “Winter Baroque” concert with guest conductor Timm Rolek, performed at the First Presbyterian Church.

This coming weekend, the Fire Hall Theatre opens the musical comedy “Lucky Stiff,” which continues for two additional weekends. I should have a review of it by next week.
It was a treat to hear an all-baroque concert from a smaller subset of the symphony, with several notable solos in a nice variety of well-known and lesser-known featured pieces. Overall the symphony was in very good form, although a few selections had occasional pitch issues in the strings and horns.

Two highlights of the program, however, could hold their own against anything in the New York or London concert halls. One was the amazing virtuoso trumpet performance by Ronnie Ingle in Johan Baptist Georg Neruda’s “Concerto in E-flat Major for Trumpet and Strings.”

The other was the overwhelmingly beautiful rendition by Anne Christopherson of a pair of Cleopatra’s arias from act three of George Friedrich Handel’s “Giulio Cesare in Egitto.” They really made one wish to see a full staging of Handel’s opera, ideally in Grand Forks’ acoustically wonderful Masonic Temple, using its historic painted backdrops of ancient Egypt.

Red River High School once again demonstrated the strength of its dramatic and comedic talent with a truly delightful production of Larry Shue’s thoughtful comedy, “The Foreigner,” marvelously directed by Rich McFarlane. It is unfortunate the show was scheduled for just one weekend, as word of mouth likely could have kept it running for several weeks with large crowds.

Most high school plays have an actor or two that stands out. Here, however, every one of the seven speaking parts in Red River’s production was performed with such a close attention to characterization that it drew the audience into the story and held them throughout.

Cody Gerszewski was terrific as the lead – Charlie Baker, a painfully shy British visitor to a rural Georgia fishing lodge who poses as a foreigner that cannot speak English so he won’t have to talk to anybody. Casey Smith did a fine job as the British army demolitions expert friend who has brought Charlie along on one of his consulting jobs with the local National Guard.

Brit Lazur showed a good flair for character parts as Betty Meeks, the dotty old owner of the resort who keeps everyone on their toes. Matt Hippen and Kristin Berg were great as the bickering Reverend David Lee and his pregnant fiancée Catherine Simms, with Hippen appropriately self-righteous, understanding, or downright shady when needed, and Berg believable in her more complex character whose initial confusion and self-centeredness turns into a greater awareness of others.

Alex Hovey was perfectly menacing as the bigoted redneck county official trying to get the lodge condemned so he can use it for his own nefarious purposes. Often stealing the show was Walter Criswell, thoroughly engaging as Catherine’s half-witted brother who knows a lot more what’s going on than people give him credit for.

Shue’s 1983 play is an excellent blend of farce humor, genuine human emotion, pure melodrama, and biting social commentary, all brought vividly to life by the cast. The initial comedy comes from Charlie’s discomfort and the way others treat him. The drama element starts to take off when Charlie begins hearing conversations other characters don’t realize he can understand.

Additional comedy develops as characters take it upon themselves to “teach” him English. This allows Charlie the chance for selected bursts of communication, which not only boosts his own self-confidence, but affects each of the other characters in important ways.

Everything leads to a climax that is both exciting and hilarious as the intrigues of the plot eventually build past the point of no return and various elements set up throughout the story all come together in a satisfying conclusion.