Sunny optimism of ‘Anne’ ideally suited to Christmas
by Eric Marchese, Orange County Register
Does anything say “Christmas” like optimism?
“Anne of Green Gables” isn’t specifically about Christmas, but its main character, Anne Shirley, is a sensitive young lady who smiles even through tears. That kind of inner goodness is exactly what ideally suits the show as the mainstage holiday offering at Chance Theater.
Adapted by Joseph Robinette (book) and Evelyn D. Swensson (music and lyrics) from Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery’s classic 1908 novel, the 1997 stage musical has been revisited by Chance repeatedly in its 17-year history, usually around the winter holidays.
This time, director Casey Long and a fine cast expertly capture the two primary qualities of the play and its story and characters: the surface humor, born of the contrast between Anne’s high spirits and the drab personalities of others, and the underlying heart.
To say that “Anne of Green Gables” is heartwarming is to state the obvious, but Long and company push all of the right buttons, bringing out the show’s sincerity and warmth.
In the small town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island, middle-aged brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert (Corky Loupe and Marina Coffee) decide to adopt a boy to help run their farm – but the orphanage in Nova Scotia thwarts their plans when it mistakenly sends them Anne (Angela Griswold).
The 11-year-old redhead’s talkative manner, vivid imagination and high spirits strike the no-nonsense Marilla as of no practical use to anyone.
Matthew, though, is quite taken with Anne. That and Marilla’s protective instincts, and her conviction that the girl sorely needs firm guidance, convince her to allow Anne to stay with them at their farmhouse, Green Gables.
The rest of the play follows Anne’s coming of age in her new home. Like Montgomery’s novel, the play is episodic in nature, presenting Anne’s various escapades and mishaps in her encounters with classmates, teachers and others.
Anne is polite to and respectful of her elders but finds herself frustrated by their inability to understand her. She’s definitely an odd little duck, and Marilla views her like she’s from another galaxy.
Matthew is a simple, quiet soul, and at least in the early going, Marilla seems more like a wife to him than a sister, nagging him to no end about everything. As it turns out, his enchantment with Anne makes him even more absent-minded than usual.
Most of the town’s sober-minded adults find the bubbly, imaginative Anne far too outspoken for their liking. They’re generally hostile toward her, but over the course of the story’s five years, her sunny optimism profoundly effects nearly everyone around her.
Of her peers, Anne finds just one “kindred spirit”: the pretty Diana Barry (Nicole Schlitt). The two become fast and inseparable friends.
Griswold’s sweet yet goofy-funny persona, expressive face and charming smile do much to define Anne as radiantly bubbly and ingenuous. Most crucially, Griswold embodies Anne’s irrepressible joie de vivre – her penchant for being touched by simple beauty most others take for granted.
Having portrayed Marilla in previous Chance productions, Coffee aptly shows her as practical, stern and duty-bound but also, eventually, more than won over by Anne’s bright mind and loving nature. Loupe brings out Matthew’s kindness and dreamy, sensitive side – often touchingly so.
Schlitt, as Diana, matches Griswold stride for stride. The two performers create a real connection that makes the Anne-Diana bond credible. Xavier J. Watson is winning as Gilbert Blythe, whose love-hate relationship with Anne consumes much of her schoolroom time and the storyline.
Sherry Domerego elicits laughs as Cuthbert neighbor and friend Mrs. Lynde, the town busybody whose blunt criticisms of Anne’s appearance trigger an equally blunt emotional outburst from her. Like Domerego, Rachel Oliveros Catalano, Brandon Kallen and James Gittelson show skill and diversity in essaying multiple roles.
Appealing in its simplicity while spanning many musical styles, the show’s score mixes original songs with traditional ones. Song-and-dance scenes leaven the play yet add emotional depth, solidly guided by musical director Bill Strongin and onstage pianist Alan Corcoran.
Masako Tobaru’s set design features a raked, rough wood platform surrounded by large, weathered pages from Montgomery’s book. Erika C. Miller’s costumes add period flavor, as do the photos flashed onto a large upstage center screen, cueing us as to each scene’s locale.
The production’s lengthy running time may try the patience of younger viewers, but generally speaking, most families will find much joy, and even holiday spirit, in Chance’s fine, accomplished staging.
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