The Milwaukee Post

By JULIE MCHALE Post Theater Critic MILWAUKEE — "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is a British fantasy musical that is based on a 1968 film star- ring Dick Van Dyke. The play calls on us to use our imagination to a great extent as most children's theater productions do. With the marvelous car designed by Nikki Kulas and her team, it is easy to do. It is truly an awesome prop. This story involves the usual battle between good and evil with the good repre- sented by the Potts family — the inventive father, Caractacus, the indomitable Grandpa, and the two per- sistent children, Jeremy and Jemima. Jackson Evans is very convincing in his role as the creative, eccentric, indefatigable, and very lov- ing widowed parent. He is supported by the strong, lov- able Robert Spencer as his helpful father, and the lovely, kind, likely future-step- mother, Truly Scrumptious, soulfully played by Malkia Stampley. Jack Trettin and Paige Landrum from the Fantabulous Cast very ably represented Jeremy and Jemima. Rick Pendzich was his ever-reliable-in–any-role self as the Toymaker. Drew Brhel and Elyse Edelman represent evil as the greedy Baron and child-hating Baroness along with their collaborating pair of evildo- ers — Goran and Boris, creepily rendered by Nathan Wesselowski and Sara Zientek. The main goal of the story is to save the old win- ning, but now defunct, European Grand Prix race car from destruction. All that is needed is 30 bobs and some ingenuity. Caractacus finds a way to provide both. Meanwhile, Grandpa is kid- napped by the Baron, and the second half of the story involves the rehabbed car's adventurous and dangerous journey to find him. Besides being beautiful and functional, they discov- er that the car has incredi- ble capabilities — it can float and fly. When Caractcus and Truly along with the chil- dren reach Vulgaria, the Baron's kingdom, they dis- cover children confined in sewers and a kindly toymak- er who helps the brave father enter the ruler's cas- tle to find Grandpa. As you might suspect, all proceeds as one might predict. Good overcomes evil, the car is saved, the forlorn children are freed and a happy end- ing leaves us smiling as we exit the theater. The choreography by Michael Pink and his wife, Jayne, is fabulous; the music provided by Paul Helm at the helm, lively and melodic; the early 20th-cen- tury costumes by Lyndsey Kuhlmann, authentic; and the overall direction by Jeff Frank, very capable, all uniting to re-create this fas- cinating show. 18 • Milwaukee County Post • October 27, 2017 ENTERTAINMENT 'Twelve Angry Men' provides good drama By JULIE MCHALE Post Theater Critic WEST ALLIS — Juries and courtroom scenes remain eternally intrigu- ing to many of us. Our intellectual and emotional selves are stretched, our abilities to distinguish between fact and inference are challenged, and our capacity to empathize, to reason, to influence and be influenced by others all factor into the mix. The original version of "Twelve Angry Men" goes back to 1954 when Studio One presented live dramas on TV. Reginald Rose's cre- ation earned him three Emmy Awards: best direc- tor, best actor and best writer. In 1957 it was made into a film starring Henry Fonda. The collection of jurors is diverse in age, ethnic and economic back- grounds, and attitudes. As the drama unfolds, each person increasingly brings his prejudices, experience, observational powers and personality to bear on the question at hand. A young black man is accused of killing his father with a switchblade. The two witnesses who have come forward are an older resident who lives in the apartment below the father and a woman who lives across the street who supposedly saw the boy do it through the window of a passing El train. It is a sweltering day and many of the jurors are eager to get this whole thing over with to resume their lives. Many jurors are annoyed with being called to perform their judicial duties, don't take their temporary job very seriously and are more interested in going home than in dispatching justice. However, one juror is determined to look over the evidence carefully, dis- cuss all the material they had been given and make a fair decision as to the boy's fate in a life-or-death deci- sion. In the first vote, he is the only one to vote "not guilty." The other 11 men thought it was obvious: The kid's a no-good punk who hated his father and killed him in a fit of rage. After all the father's neigh- bor heard the kid say, "I'm going to kill you" as he ran down the stairs, and the woman across the way swore she saw him do it as she gazed out the window just as an El was passing by. The discussions get pretty heated from here on in, and the true characters of the 12 jurors become more evident. At times it looks like the drama may lead to another crime right there in the jury room, and the power of anger as a driving force becomes more and more evident as we watch the drama devel- op. Since the jurors only had numbers in the pro- gram and the numbers were not on their juror badges, I can't identify which actor played which juror in order to give cred- it. Some of the actors who I've seen before did a good job: Paul Weir as Juror No. 1, Nicholas Callan Haubner as Juror No. 8, Gene Schuldt as Juror No. 10 and Doug Smedbron as No. 9 of doing a good job. I also thought outstanding work was done by the young man with the impoverished background, the man who was a recent immigrant, and Mack Heath as Juror No. 3, the angry man who thought he had all the answers. Directed by Katherine Beeson, the production is worthy of the fine script. Cast ably performs great script 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' provides plenty of bang Submitted photo Juror No. 10 (Gene Schuldt), far left, looks on as Juror No. 4 (Paul Weir), second from left, and Juror No. 12 (Bill Hitt), right, attempt to restrain Juror No. 3 (Mack Heath) from attacking a juror who disagrees with him in "Twelve Angry Men." "Twelve Angry Men" The drama starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd St., West Allis. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $15. Paul Ruffolo Jackson Evans, Malkia Stampley, Jack Trettin and Paige Landrum in First Stage's "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" The musical runs through Nov. 5 at First Stage in the Marcus Center, 929 N. Water St., in Milwaukee. Call 414- 273-7206 or visit wwwFirstStage.org for times and tickets.

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