The third show of Theatre Works' 25th season is "Never Get Smart With an
Angel". It's winter, 1941, and the world is changing. In a very Italian
neighborhood, emigrant Salvatore Bustebrizzo, a loud, bigoted and funny
eccentric lives over his shoe repair shop with his 28 year old son, Paolo.
Suddenly into Sal's richly ethnic Italian world comes his son's non-Italian
girlfriend, Dorothy and her banker father, John Willis Boothe. Only Uncle
Carmine can resolve the spirited conflict that this generates. The show's
''angel'' is Sal's far from angelic wife who has been dead for the past
seven years. Only Sal can see her and hear her wise-cracks. The show is very
funny from start to finish with a few poignant moments along the way. Connie
Anderson directs this well written show with a strong hand and makes every
moment totally enjoyable with the numerous humorous lines. She casts all of
the six roles wonderfully. Stage manager Mark Anderson keeps the scenes
moving and changes the props with ease and he built the 1940's style set.
Sharon Charette found authentic vintage costumes for this show.
The energetic leads of this show are played by Shelly Whittle as Sal and
Moe Cournoyer as Carmine. Their Italian accents are top notch and line
delivery are, too. Their tirades at each other and their longtime friendship
as secret business partners is humorous, too. Their belief in praying to
certain saints for whatever the situation calls for, Shelly opening a closet
filled with statues of numerous saints lead to many laughs. The votive
candles surrounding the saint of the day is perfect. Moe as Carmine uses
reverse psychology on Sal when he tells him not to let Paolo marry Dorothy.
He also has a very touching scene near the end of the show but to reveal any
more would spoil it for the audience. The other performers do a bang up job,
too. Nicholas Thibeault plays Paolo and Amy Silva plays Dorothy. They make
the young lovers interesting with their reaction to the two crazy men who
badger, cajole and love them. It can be difficult playing the straight man
to two comics but they do it with ease. Ron Martin who makes his stage debut
in this role of hot headed father who does a slow burn while being insulted
by the bigoted twosome. The drunk scene is a hoot. Also funny is their
accusing him of being related to John Wilkes Booth who killed Lincoln. The
angel of the show, Lucia, is played by Camille Terrilli who is an hilarious
comedienne. She constantly knits wings and delivers clever one liners to Sal
who is the only one who can see her. Lucia tells Sal of future events and
how things are going in heaven. She describes Saint Michael as a womanizer
that is why he helped Joan of Arc. She brings a lot of merriment to the show
while doing so. So for a look back at the 1940's and it's strong, family
values and respect, be sure to catch "Never Get Smart With an Angel", tell
them Tony sent you.
NEVER GET SMART WITH AN ANGEL ( 4- 13 April,
2008)
