- From Left Standing: Debbie Scoones: (Dresser) Gary Morean: (Wig Master) Clayton Self: (Assistant Stage Manager) Ted Spoon: (Actor) Keith Krueger: (Playwright)
- From Left Front: Angela McFadden: (Wardrobe Mistress) Patty Sundstrom: (Actress)
Driftwood Players
"Enter the Guardsman" Sept. - Oct. 2005
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 Set Background Painted by Bill Garrison |
| Pictures by Larry Tingwall |
From The Daily World Thursday, October 6, 2005
Did she know?
That's the question the audience is left pondering at the conclusion of "Enter the Guardsman," the current production of Aberdeen's Driftwood Players.
Whatever the answer, the musical comedy offers plenty of hijinx as an actor (played by Ted Spoon) decides to test his fresh, yet already strained, wedding vows by posing as a guardsman in an attempt to woo his own actress wife (Patty Sundstrom).
So when the husband "leaves town"........Enter the Guardsman!
It's Spoon, of course, sporting a large mustache, thick Austrian accent and offering loads of ---- how do you say? ----ze pretty flowers.
When the bouquets and other romantic gestures appear to be working ---- and the Guardsman gains ground on a romantic score ---- the actor is left wondering whether this role is one he wants to continue playing.
The action unfolds under the watchful eye of the author of the play the two actors are staring in (a wry Keith Krueger), who has motives of his own.
The play-within-a-play is based on a short story popularized by the real-life husband-wife stage acting duo of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in the 1931 film, "The Guardsman." This musical adaptation is directed locally by Robert Neisinger, a prominent mainstay with several Grays Harbor musical troupes.
The stage's background is not to be missed --- a larger-than-life painting by Bill Garrison of a captivated audience watching a play. The canvas features many recognizable Grays Harbor faces and Neisinger offers the audience a chance to come on stage after the show and check it out.
Though there are some PG-13 moments, "Enter the Guardsman" is still an appropriate and fairly safe choice for Driftwood to kick off its 2005-06 season. Especially with a somewhat controversial selection --- an adaptation of Stephen King's dark thriller "Misery" --- looming in November.
With enough wardrobe changes, singing and all-around action to make the support cast --- Wardrobe Manager (Angela McFadden), Wig Master (Gary Morean), Dresser (Debbie Scoones) and Assistant Stage Manager (Clayton Self) --- sweat just thinking about there parts, "Enter the Guardsman" is one play where it's OK to leave the theater not knowing all the answers.
Home Driftwood Players Inc. Webmaster Larry Tingwall
