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Canyon Moon Theater Company |
Canyon Moon Theatre Visits the ‘Burbs
By Beverly Lehnhardt
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Sedona.biz
(Sedona, Arizona) - Suburb: The Musical delighted a nearly full house at Sedona’s Canyon Moon
Theatre (CMTC) opening night, Saturday, March 10.
David Javerbaum and Robert S.
Cohen’s play is a light-hearted frolic that takes fun-loving jabs at suburban
living.
But underneath the wittiness and laughs is a message that simultaneously addresses many of life’s more serious issues:
change, courage, and the many decisions we make and how they affect our lives.
The comedy is centered around four main characters whose stories depict life in
its various stages. It also features charming musical odes to, surprisingly,
lawn mowing, barbecues, and the mall—you have to see it to believe it!Young city-dwellers Stuart (CMTC veteran Nate Hackman) and Alison (Shilah
Larson) are expecting their first child. Stuart yearns for a house with a yard
and a white picket fence in the suburbs to fulfill the American dream while
facing his fears of growing up and the responsibilities of fatherhood. Alison is
a city girl at heart and adamantly refuses to leave the city, afraid of joining
the ranks of van-driving soccer moms, and ‘becoming her mother.’ Can they find a
mutually satisfactory compromise?
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Dev Ross as
brassy realtor Rhoda Ravitch |
Dev Ross, another CMTC favorite, plays to perfection the brassy Rhoda Ravitch,
the thrice-divorced realtor intent on selling the young couple their dream
house. Tough on the outside, soft on the inside, Rhoda fills her days with work
to stave off loneliness. But will the realtor fall for a home-selling client?Tom (George Bufford) has conflicting feelings about selling his house of 40
years now that his wife has passed away. A perfectionist and do-it-yourself
handyman, Tom’s house has all those little loving touches that will make it very
easy to sell. What will help him make up his mind?
The supporting cast, Charles (Garry Stark), Courtney (Teri Bays), Marsha (Jeanie
Carroll), and Allan (Robert Benton), has a very impressive collective musical
background and worked for several weeks to hone vocal chords for this production
which includes a variety of musical styles.Another CMTC returnee, pianist Rebecca Cauthen, accompanied the cast throughout
the performance—she was the pianist for the CMTC hits Suds, Nunsense and
Nunsense II.
Although Suburb is not widely known, the Washington Post called it
“a show well worth seeing.” The packed house Saturday night would surely agree.
With courage, fear, laughter and sadness, silliness, poignancy, joy and despair,
this play has it all. It forces us to look at our lives and helps us see how our
choices affect not only ourselves, but others as well.
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Dev Ross,
Nate Hackmann, and Shilah Larson |
CMTC’s producing artistic director Mary G. Guraldi looks for plays that
subscribers won’t see anywhere else around here and that tell a story. She likes
this play because “…it’s appealing, charming, and ultimately touching. I fell in
love with it…and couldn’t not do it this year.”
The set, constructed by Doug Boyd, Daniel Hicks, and Lorraine Fexas, was
cleverly done, allowing the actors to move the furniture on and off-stage
between scenes with a minimum of effort.
Judging by the resounding applause following the last scene, theatergoers
thoroughly enjoyed Suburb. With a sell-out crowd on opening night, the
rest of the run is sure to fill up quickly. Buy your tickets now by calling
282-6212 or visit Rycus’ Corners in VOC or Clothing Reflections in the West
Sedona Basha’s shopping center.
Suburb: The Musical will run from now through March 25 with shows on
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday beginning at 7:30p.m. and Sunday matinees
starting at 3p.m.
Single tickets are $19 and $11 for full-time students. All shows take place at
Canyon Moon Theatre in the Oak Creek Factory Outlets on 179 in the Village of
Oak Creek.