“The Rainmaker” to Beguile Us at the Sierra Madre Playhouse
By Fran Syverson
Published: Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Can he really make it rain?—this handsome dude who happens to drop by a farmhouse one day just as the Currys are standing at their windows, scanning the skies for even the barest hint of clouds. He says he can. Says he’s done it before, in the midst of terrible droughts, worse’n this ‘un. ‘Course it takes a hundred bucks to do it, but dang it, it’d be worth it, wouldn’t it?
But what the guy who calls himself Starbuck has walked in on is far more than the driest summer in memory. It’s a family tussle, the guys at odds with each other. Pop, Noah and Jim have just welcomed their spinsterish sister Lizzie back from a trip to visit relatives—a trip, they’d hoped, that might brighten her prospects of finding a husband. Lizzie’s a wholesome woman, a good cook, and she’s been a fine homemaker for the men of the family ever since their mother died. But she’s plain.
Older brother Noah, played with convincing harshness by Tyler Wright, doesn’t mind calling a spade a spade, nor does he hesitate to tell Lizzie to face facts—she’s plain and she’s never going to get married. Easy-going Pop (Jack Chansler) is kinder. Pshaw, she’ll find the right guy—some guy, anyhow—someday. Matthew Grondin as the frisky younger brother keeps Lizzie’s hopes up, even though she herself despairs.
It’s time to do something about this. So Pop and Jim concoct a clumsy, heavy-handed scheme to invite the widowed, good-looking File, the town’s undersheriff, to dinner. Lizzie protests. Their effort flops, and just as they sit down to dinner with the empty place at the table, in walks the slick-lookin’ stranger, all in black. Fast-talking Starbuck soon causes another standoff among the Currys. Pop and Jim decide it’s worth the gamble to hire the guy who calls himself “The Rainmaker,” while Noah and Lizzie defy him as a liar and a fake.
Tania Obteshka dons the dimity dress and Mother Hubbard-like apron needed to portray Lizzie as truly a plain woman. Then as the evening wears on and Starbuck tries to convince her to look at herself as a pretty woman, she segues tentatively into an unfamiliar new self, letting her hair down both literally and figuratively. He’s a charmer all right, this Starbuck, so enticingly played by Allen Cutler, and he charms Lizzie into new feelings and thoughts.
“The Rainmaker” is a story of drought, both in the land and in the Curry family’s emotions. And in the sheriffs, too—both File, played by boyishly handsome Jon Snow, and the older Sheriff, Ken Salzman, each of whom has faced barrenness in his own life. Drought, yes, but finally a sense of redemption, too. And rain? Well, you’ll have to go see for yourself….
And all of the above comments derive from seeing only the first dress rehearsal. Director Bob Hakman granted your reviewer a sneak-peek at “The Rainmaker” because she couldn’t be at the opening night performance. But you can! The traditional before-theater casual buffet will be at 7:15 p.m. Fri., April 30, with a champagne reception at intermission.
Or you can choose another time to enjoy this early summer classic by N. Richard Nash. The play will run weekends through Saturday, June 5. Curtain time is 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. for Sunday matinees (dark June 2.) Admission is $20 general, $17 for seniors (65+) and students (12-18), and $12 for children 12 years and under.
The Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Free parking is available in city lots. Restaurants on Baldwin Avenue and Sierra Madre Boulevard offer pre-theater dining for every taste. For reservations or more information, phone (626) 355-4318, or visit the website, www.sierramadreplayhouse.org, for information or for online ticketing. Group reservations: (626) 836-2125.
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