STAGE REVIEW : ‘BRIDEGROOM’: SOME ODD TWISTS ON A TRIP SOUTH

Newport Theatre Arts Center takes a raucous trip to the Deep South in “The Robber Bridegroom,” a strange musical journey that is often outrageous and never dull.

Ideally, the night would be eerily still with only a sliver of cloud-shrouded moon lighting the landscape to create the proper atmosphere. But this is Newport Beach, and the noise and bright lights of Coast Highway don’t cooperate. Inside the theater, however, director Beth Hansen and set designer Gil Morales have done a masterful job of conjuring up another place and time--the Natchez Trace, the trail that leads south from Nashville to New Orleans, around the turn of the century.

The atmospheric musical by Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman is based on a novella by Eudora Welty, who knows the Delta better than just about anyone. Here she hands down some local folklore about a handsome young man who is not quite what he seems and the smoldering young woman who falls for his unseemly side. It is a tale of passion, superstition, legend and--one suspects--quite a bit of inbreeding: The odd characters include a reciting raven, a disembodied talking head, a boy named Goat and assorted liars, thieves and worse.

The effect is Southern Gothic at its most bizarre, and Hansen has plunged into all this exaggeration with abandon. The results are broadly comic, bursting with energy and decidedly colorful, but the comic frontal assault overwhelms the ability of the story to raise goose bumps. The performance that tilts the balance toward the silly is S. J. Petska’s wicked stepmother, Salome. Petska’s characterization is all affectations and comic mannerisms intent on producing laughs, which it does in abundance, never asking to be taken seriously. It’s a choice that largely sets the tone for the rest of the production.

Mark Wickham makes a dashing Jamie Lockhart, the robber bridegroom who steals hearts as well as purses. His love match is Rosamund, a feisty girl on the edge of womanhood played with grit and grace by Katherine Cook. Rosamund’s aching for something she can’t yet name is beautifully illuminated in Cook’s sultry version of “Nuthin’ Up.” The strong supporting cast is crucial in creating the thick Delta atmosphere; especially effective are Michael Shelton as Rosamund’s rich daddy, Jeff Paul as a lowdown swamp critter, Brian Blair as the cantankerous talking head and John Bisom as the half-witted goat boy.

Morales’ set is a creepy tangle of swamp trees dripping moss, with kudzu crawling up the edges, and it looks so realistic that audience members couldn’t resist touching it as they walked by at intermission. The size of the stage, however, is an inhibiting element; several scenes beg for more elbow room. But Hansen and choreographer Susan Thomas Lee work wonders with what they’ve got (including the aisles) with skillful staging and energetic production numbers.

“The Robber Bridegroom” will play through Feb. 14 at Newport Theatre Arts Center, 2501 Cliff Drive in Newport Beach. Information: 631-0288.