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Plays
off without a hitch!
 Once
again Mr. Robinson and the Mount Michael Masquers have
pulled off another spectacular show. However, unlike
in past years, the performance consisted of two plays
instead of just one.
This year the Masquers
put on “The Boys Next Door”—a touching
comedy about a house full of mentally challenged people
and their caretaker—and “Lend me a Tenor”—a
more chaotic comedy about what happens when a famous
singer
commits suicide the night of his opening performance.
Due to the set requirements of both of these plays the
same set could be used for both with only a few
modifications and furniture changes that needed to be
made in the interim between shows.
“The Boys Next Door”
follows loosely the life of a social worker (played by
Sean
Cox) and the problems he faces from his charges, a mentally
challenged boy (played magnificently by Nick Michalak),
a nervous schizophrenic(played by Reid Anderson), a
wanna-be
golf pro(played by Tim Pagett), and a mentally challenged
bulimic(played by Jordan Cribbs). In between the comic
interludes however there are some poignant moments as
Cox’s character begins to hate his life as it
is and attributes some of his problems to the stress
of having
to deal with these people.
On the other hand, “Lend
me a Tenor” had few, if any, such moments. It's
paced paced and more slapstick, with the jokes gaining
momentum as the plot accelerates. Basically, the head
of a Chicago theater (Michael Gibilisco) is faced with
the looming threat of bankruptcy. In a last ditch effort
to avoid this fate, he calls in the famous singer Tito
Morelli (Zach Lage) to sing the lead role in their performance
of “Othello.” All seems to be going well until,
after a lover's quarrel between Tito and his wife, Tito
appears to have committed suicide on Opening Night!!!
It's up to the stage manager Max (Stuart Anderson) to
save the day.
With the ending of this
play, we all look forward to next year's, sure to be wonderful,
performance. ~Article and photos by:
Tim Agnew
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