'Li'l Abner' brings down-home fun to the Apple
By Wayne Barcomb
Kudos to The Golden Apple Theatre for selecting and performing the warm, winning, wondrously funny and charming "Li’l Abner." One of the best things that has happened over the years for theater lovers and followers of the long enduring comic strip Li’l Abner, was the creation of the musical.
Indeed, a tribute to the creativity of the Golden Apple staff is the manner in which they managed to squeeze the 27-member cast onto the small GA stage and make it look effortless.
So many of us grew up laughing at and loving Al Capp’s comic strip rich with the wacky denizens of Dogpatch dubbed with creative names like Appassionata Von Climax, Marryin’ Sam, Earthquake McGoon, Moonbeam McSwine, Evil Eye Fleagle, Mammy and Pappy Yokum and of course Daisy May and Li’l Abner himself. What fun to see them all in the flesh.
Mathew C. Scott as Li’l Abner and Heather Kopp as Daisy Mae.
The "plot" of the musical revolves around the U.S. government’s plan to use Dogpatch for nuclear testing, forcing its residents to evacuate, and the citizens’ efforts to prevent it. The government’s plan is eventually called off but, in between, all kinds of mischievous merriment takes place.
Mammy Yokum, Li’l Abner’s mother, has "invented" a tonic called Yokumberry that builds perfect muscular bodies like Abner’s. General Bullmoose, a loathsome businessman seeking to possess all the money in the world, conspires to get control of the tonic. However, the ingenuous Li’l Abner says he will give it to the government.
Bullmoose arranges to have Evil Eye Fleagle put a hex on Abner, enabling Bullmooses’ cohort, Appassionata Von Climax, to catch him in the Sadie Hawkins Day Race, thereby forcing Abner, by Sadie Hawkins Day law, to marry her.
The plan is to then take Abner to Washington where he will "accidentally" die and Bullmoose will lay claim to the formula and eventually become the richest man in the world. All of these nefarious plans are eventually foiled and Abner finally agrees to marry Daisy Mae.
Along the way we are treated to some energetic musical numbers and many hilarious high jinks performed with gusto by the splendid cast. Matthew C. Scott and Heather Kopp as Abner and Daisy Mae are delightful together. Scott has the manly, handsome, wide-eyed, simple Abner down perfectly, and his rich singing voice is a major plus.
Kopp is winsome, funny, and at times conniving in her efforts to snare Abner. Her singing is on a par with Scott’s, and the two play off one another well.
Michael Bajjaly‘s Marryin’ Sam is a presence throughout and is a big plus for the production.
Ellie Pattison and Bob Trisolini playing Mammy and Pappy Yokum played a bit too much to caricatures rather than letting us see the caricatures come alive as did the others. The veteran actor Trisolini’s efforts to be in every scene even when he isn’t by constantly mugging and gesticulating from the bent over stance he chose, was tiresome and intrusive. Hopefully, he will tone it down a bit.
Robert Ennis Turoff is appropriately conniving, greedy and blustery in a performance worthy of the old pro he is. And as might be expected, Roberta MacDonald as the bureaucratic Dr. Ramona T. Finsdale effectively showed her side of the talented duo.
The rest of the leads, Ryan Kimble Fitts, the menacing Earthquake McGoon, Craig Weiskerberger, a frenetic Evil Eye Fleagle and Sevasty Antoniades as the sexy Appassionata Von Climax (one of Al Capp’s most ingenious names) all kept the performance levels high.
Major contributors to this show’s success were Dee Richards’ creative costumes, Michael Newton Brown’s sets, John Visser’s music direction and DeWayne Barrett’s lively choreography.
As for the show’s musical numbers, it’s hard to beat the wonderful "Jubilation T. Cornpone" when the entire cast gets into it and the Apple rocks. Terrific, fun music throughout.