STAGE REVIEW : LAMB’S ADDS TO APPEAL OF ‘THE TAVERN’

It was a dark and stormy night. . . .

Snoopy isn’t the only writer who has longed to leave that terrific opening on the page.

But it takes a roaring talent like George M. Cohan to back up that first cliche with pages more and still send his audience off with delighted smiles crinkling their faces.

“The Tavern,” staged for Lamb’s Players Theatre by associate director Kerry Cederberg, is a good-natured parody of popular mystery dramas, with some sharp insights on the general follies of humankind emerging to give the play its lasting appeal.

The multitalented Cohan infused a joyous theatricality into every line of this pseudo-thriller. And no local company is more at home with joyous theatricality than Lamb’s Players.

Cederberg is particularly adept with this self-mocking play, having written a few of her own that dance the precarious line between corny and clever. She lets her cast stretch full out into Cohan’s caricatures, bringing her own skill with sight gags to the limits of excess. Almost everything she has added works, giving a brilliant sheen to an already wonderful play.

Actor David Heath is perfectly cast as the mysterious Vagabond who appears at an old tavern in the middle of a thunderstorming night. He is dark, charming, quick with witty observations, and fascinated by the dramatic possibilities of the situation unfolding around him.

“ ‘Tis a glorious storm,” he expounds, while Freeman, the crusty tavern keeper, keeps his shotgun trained on the puzzling intruder, and Zach, his lovestruck son, tries to forget his passion for the homely maid, Sally, long enough to follow his father’s barked orders to keep the stranger under scrutiny.

To the Vagabond’s delight, all the necessaries for a good suspense yarn come tumbling in from the storm. A mysterious, fainting woman named Violet emerges from the woodshed. The governor and his entourage arrive, after being held up by armed men on the rain-swept road.

And the governor’s daughter, stuffy fiance notwithstanding, seems easily, willingly distracted by the Vagabond’s meaningful glances and pointed remarks.

Heath swoops and grins and leers and mystifies, as the Vagabond steadfastly refuses to reveal his identity. The actor basks in this role that lets him use all the comic eyebrow shifts and slick stage tricks he and Cederberg could muster. As a preacher in “The Diviners,” Heath found a new depth in his acting; here he simply dazzles in a made-to-order part.

Eyebrow for eyebrow, Michael Buckley, as the tavern keeper’s awkward son, matches Heath’s comic aplomb, stealing more than a little audience attention. The overdrawn tavern keeper is skillfully manipulated by Kenneth Wagner into a humorously balanced portrayal, while Marilyn Mike entertains most as Sally when she tones down the shrillness.

Mark Crouse has let his portrayal of the hired hand, Willum, go off the scale into shrieking excess--a lapse of control that Cederberg could have easily curbed.

For his work as Governor Lamson, Phil Card has studiously created a funny, pompous image but he seems too young, as does Darlene Trent in her role as the governor’s flirtatious mother.

Pamela Smith surprises with a confident, affecting interpretation of the governor’s dallying daughter, coolly mastering the part’s subtle humor. Gail West is lovely, strange and possessed of throaty voice that lends the proper exotic touch to the swooning Violet.

As the arrogant, guilt-stricken fiance, Tom Stephenson seems quite comfortable. But David Carminito’s lighting design takes the edge over his acting as the Sheriff.

Kevin Nettleton is barely seen in two smaller roles that, if revealed, would destroy the wonderful mystery the Vagabond so heartily appreciates.

The rich turn-of-the-century costumes designed by Norman Miller deserve high praise, lending much credibility to the cloying, quaint wooden tavern atmosphere Carminito and scenic and sound designer David Thayer have created.

Cohan’s Vagabond is a man who believes that life is simply a play in progress. It’s not an original idea, but he lives it so delightfully, taking upon himself the duties of a solitary observer--for what is a play without an audience?

And thus Cohan reveals his secret formula for discovering the joy in every amazing moment life unveils. “The Tavern” certainly makes this phenomenon pass more pleasurably for those of us who happen by its lighted windows.

“THE TAVERN” By George M. Cohan. Directed by Kerry Cederberg. Costume design by Norman Miller. Scenic and sound design by David Thayer. Lighting design by stage manager David Carminito. With Michael Buckley, Marilyn Mike, Kenneth Wagner, Mark Crouse, David Heath, Gail West, Phil Card, Darlene Trent, Pamela Smith, Tom Stephenson, David Carminito and Kevin Nettleton. Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., Saturday matinees at 2 p.m., through June 14, at Lamb’s Players Theatre, 500 Plaza Blvd., National City.