REVIEW: A Sold Out Performance of ‘A Fine Family’
Through 5/4 @ Sand Lake Center For The Arts, Averill Park
Photos by Bud Whitney
“It is impossible to have a bad time in a theatre surrounded, supported and created by fine folks who just love getting together to have a good time.”
There is something magical about the drive east on route 43, especially when you catch Sand Lake Center for the Arts in the distance with its parking lot overflowing on a Sunday afternoon. The performance of A Fine Family, an original musical by Susan Frost (book) and Jim Holmes was completely sold out and I was happy to park at the nearby high school.
Family was in the title and family was on the stage and in the production as Susan and Jim are longtime partners. The curtain speech by Pat Douglas was followed not long after by the entrance onstage by her reliable laugh-getter of a husband, Bill.
The show opens with a threat—“I’m Going to Kill Him” sung by Christine Vermilyea who does an excellent job of barely keeping it together as the clan gathers for the funeral services of a dog. In the opening number, she is beside herself because her husband is late running errands.
The show has a number of pleasant tunes by Holmes. There are plenty of laughs in Frost’s script and the stage is populated with 17 of the nicest people you could hope to meet which is the blessing and the curse of this show. It is fine and nice and the most antagonistic it gets is irritating.
There’s the sister (scene stealer Suzanne Baker) who exercises too much, the grandfather who can’t remember anyone’s name, the matriarch who buries all her feelings with “I’m fine!!” None of these conditions raise the stakes to a hugely compelling story. They’re fine.
I loved seeing SLCA veterans Michael Gialanella, Amy Hausknecht, Jim Hulihan, Paula Hoffay, Eric Washburn and it’s always great to see teenagers cutting their teeth on stage. Emily Diehl, Lyric Semaia and Sophia Sorensen were a delight and I kept checking in on them to see their faces. I can’t wait to see them in more substantial roles soon.
There is a fun chorus of five (Lori Farrell, Daryl Hansen, Remy Orth, Lillian Thornton) seemingly led by the strong Linda Thorburn which takes on different roles as they pop in to offer back-up, eventually appearing as very colorful owls.
Finally, in a colorfully surprising late entrance, there is Debra Burger in a woo woo role, colorfully dispensing scarves and wisdom like a latecomer Auntie Mame to wrap things up. Brava!
It is impossible to have a bad time in a theatre surrounded, supported and created by fine folks who just love getting together to have a good time. You may leave hungering for something more substantial but you won’t regret the visit.
A Fine Family runs through Sunday, 5/4 at Sand Lake Center for the Arts (2880 NY-43, Averill Park NY, 12018). Tickets: www.SLCA-CTP.org
