The third show of URI's season is Larry Shue's delightful farce "The
Foreigner". The show takes place in the early 1980's and is in a fishing
lodge resort in rural Georgia where Froggy LeSueur, a British demolition
expert occasionally runs training sessions at a nearby airbase. This time
Froggy brings along a friend, Charlie Baker who is pathologically shy and is
overcome with fear at the thought of meeting strangers due to the fact his
wife continually berates him for being "Boring" because he is a proofreader
for a science fiction magazine and she flaunts her 23 affairs in his face.
So Froggy tells Betty Meeks, the owner of the lodge that Charlie is from an
exotic foreign country and speaks no English. This is to cheer Betty up
because her place might be condemned and since she is elderly she won't get
a chance to see all the beautiful foreign places Froggy has been to. However
Charlie overhears more than he should about the evil plans of a sinister
minister and his redneck associate as well as the fact that the minister's
fiancée is pregnant. Charlie also learns many damaging revelations made by
the others with the thought that he doesn't understand anything being said.
The fact that he does understand what's going on, makes him help the good
guys overcome the evil Ku Klux Klan, thereby conquering them, overcoming his
shyness and helping to change his and three other people's lives for the
better, all at the same time. Alan Hawkridge directs his seven talented
performers perfectly in this madcap comic romp. The gorgeous fishing lodge
resort set by Cheryl DeWardner is so realistic one feels if they could move
inside it for a three week vacation. The made up foreign language spoken by
Charlie is hilarious to hear and watch as he tries to get the others to
understand what he is saying. To quote him "Blasni, Blasni" which in his
language means Bravo, Bravo for a job very well done which earns the
talented student cast a standing ovation on opening night.
Alan brings out the comic moments beautifully and gives each performer a
chance to shine in their roles. Each role is a character role and he makes
each of them different from the other. The British and southern accents are
excellently executed by the cast and stage manager Max Ponticelli keeps the
scene changes moving along quickly, keeping the show's quick pace from start
to finish. The sound design by Michael Hyde includes a rain storm complete
with thunder and lightning and an explosion with the lighting design by
Renee Surprenant and the costumes are by Rachael Ralby. (Renee and Rachael
are senior theatre majors.) Loved the rolling hubcap on stage after the
outdoor explosion. This cast is lead by Johnny Sederquist and his portrayal
of Charlie Baker is splendid with fantastic facial expressions and wonderful
line deliveries in an English accent and in his made up foreign language.
(Blit is no and gock is yes) Charlie who is a proof reader, feels boring and
inadequate due to his wife's 23 affairs but his time in Georgia helps him to
overcome his doubts and he becomes a hero, too. Johnny's interactions with
the other characters is wonderful as he helps a dimwitted boy win his
inheritance, brings adventure to an old lady stuck in this backwards town,
helps a pregnant woman escape the clutches of her awful boyfriend, taunts
her beau and his horrible redneck pal with his secret insults in his hidden
tongue. Johnny's acting out with his pantomime's including screaming and
falling up and down behind the sofa and the foreign language of the little
red riding hood tale has to be seen and heard to be fully enjoyed because
the audience understands what he is saying even though he is speaking
gibberish. His dancing crazily and his ominous incantation to scare the
hoodlums are topnotch, too as is the scene where he gets Owen to exit the
house when Charlie is explaining to David where his country is located by
using a map of Georgia. Blasni to Johnny! It is the first time I have seen
him perform on stage but I am sure I will be seeing more of this young man
in future productions.
Charlie's chum, Froggy is well played by Benjamin Gracia. (He just played
the evil Jud in "Oklahoma" as well as having appeared in "Small Tragedy" and
"Stuff Happens") He makes this bombastic, heavy drinking British soldier
come to life. Ben shows his exasperation at trying to get Charlie to be more
sociable and does a turn on a dime when he concocts the foreigner story to
help bolster Betty up due to her problems at the lodge. Froggy can hardly
believe that Charlie has fooled all the people with his shenanigans but
supplies the needed turn of events to make Charlie and his three new friends
very happy. Betsy Rinaldi is very comical as Betty Meeks. Being a young
person she imitates the stooped over behavior of an older woman very well.
Betty misconstrues almost everything Charlie says to her including her
forcing him to keep a glass on his head during breakfast, her thinking that
there is a tractor in his red riding hood story and that he wants her to
play her harmonica for him. She constantly yells at him as if he is deaf
which is very humorous, too. Betsy's funniest bit comes after the explosion
when Johnny jumps in her arms and she holds him up for quite a long time.
(Betsy hails from Coventry and also appeared in "Oklahoma".) Jennifer
Michaels plays Catherine Simms, a former debutante whose father has left her
a huge inheritance. She is bithcy and unhappy during the first act due to
her being pregnant but mellows out in the second act due to Charlie's
sympathetic and understanding nature, becoming enamored of him. She reads an
old magazine in the lodge about Princess Diana giving birth to her first son
but not having named it yet and her brother thinks Buddy will be a good name
for the baby.) Her dimwitted brother, Ellard is played by Michael Puppi who
I have reviewed numerous times at Narragansett High School. He is another
scene stealer, clad in overalls with a bib and wild hair. Ellard turns out
the be smarter than anyone thinks especially when he finds a croquet mallet
and acts like King Buddy who Charlie has made up to be a hero to give Ellard
courage when the Klan descends upon the lodge. Michael's eating and teaching
scenes with Johnny are hysterical when they eat eggs, drop glasses on the
floor and especially when he teaches him how to identify objects in the
lodge and outside by their Southern English definitions.
Nile Hawver who has matinee idol good looks, gets a chance to portray a
cad in David who is a minister after having played Curly in "Oklahoma" and
appearing in "Stuff Happens" in 2007. However things seem to be too good to
be true and as Charlie witnesses the exchange between David and Owen, he
discovers their true motives toward Betty, Catherine and Ellard. Nile's
acting is wonderful as this smarmy character and the audience enjoys it when
David gets his comeuppance for his miserable behavior. Last but not least is
Cory Crew Jr. who hails from New York. He plays Owen Musser who is one of
the nastiest villains in this show as he takes advantage of an old lady and
tries to kill Charlie because he is a foreigner. Cory spouts awful, racist
dialogue at Charlie and the others but the comic moments help to temper it
as he gets the crap scared out of him and the Ku Klux Klan. To help Cory who
has an angelic looking face, look evil, he wears fake side burns, a wife
beater T-shirt and a flannel shirt with the sleeves ripped off. (I also
reviewed Cory in "Oklahoma" where he played the comical Peddler as well as
in "Stuff Happens".) A huge boo and hiss to Nile and Cory for being horrible
villains but excelling in their roles while doing so. So for a trip back to
the 1980's in Georgia, be sure to catch "The Foreigner" at URI before time
runs out. Tell them Tony sent you.
THE FOREIGNER ( 26 February to 8 March, 2009)
URI, Robert E. Will Theatre, Upper College Road,
Kingston, RI
