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Peer Reviews Cliffhanger Entire contents are copyright © Deborah Ward. All rights reserved.
Maybe you're feeling a little guilty about that chocolate cake you ate before bedtime last night. Maybe you feel a bit dire about taking that twenty dollars out of your friend's purse. Perhaps you feel a tinsy dire about strangling your nemesis and burying the body in your backyard. Fear not. All you need to do is contact Professor Henry Lowenthal, your "neighborly philosopher who can justify whatever it is you do." Is murder really wrong? Not if you kill 'em with Socrates. According to Socrates, "There is no evil, just ignorance." Therefore murder isn't really bad -- that is, if you are a well-respected professor of Philosophy who kills a hateful and ignorant yet "brilliant bitch." And that is just what Professor Henry Lowenthal (Brad Castleberry) and his wife Polly (Ann Meyer) do in Cliffhanger. This Little Colonel production is the diamond in the coal mine. It sparkles with charm, love and sweet laughs. When Edith Wilshire (Jamie Lentz) becomes her old professor's egotistical boss, the professor gives her a literal whack of Socrates, ending in a murder that his wife Polly must help him cover up. During the cover-up, the Lowenthals are visited by Melvin McMullen (Luke Van Marter), a cosmic teen trying to convince the professor not to fail him. The situation really begins to fall apart when the Lowenthals are visited after the funeral by detective Dave DeVito (Sidney Hymson), a mild-mannered Barney-Fife-meets-Monk kind of character, to reveal a murder plot that twists into a careful blackmail plan by McMullen. Relying on Socrates once again, the Lowenthals cling to the truth that "every human being can be gently led to reason," thwarting McMullen's plan by killing him! The story is an evolution of philosophy and mystery that is brought to life by some of the best acting I've ever seen. The chemistry between Castleberry and Meyer makes it easy to believe they are husband and wife who are actually living this unbelievable chain of events. This is one of those rare displays where all aspects of theatre create an intense synergy. This one gets my rating of a definite great night out.
Performances of Cliffhanger are January 24, 25
and 26 at 8:00pm, January 27 at 2:30pm; February
1 and 2 at 8:00pm, and February 3 at 2:30pm
NEWS BULLETIN: LITTLE COLONEL DAMAGED BY STORM
Posted Jan. 30, 2008
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