'Chaillot' Has Standouts, But Falls Short

‘Chaillot’ has standouts, but falls short

A Review

"THE MADWOMAN OF CHAILLOT"

BY JEAN GIRAUDOUX

COUNTESS AURELIA...........CLARIBEL BAIRD

MME. CONSTANCE................NANCY HEUSEL

MLLE. GABRIELLE..............MARINA WEIDMAN

MME. JOSEPHINE..............SANDRA HUDSON

IRMA....................................DEBBIE MUELLER

PRESIDENT...........................WILLIAM CROSS

PROSPECTOR......ROGER WERTENBERGER

PIERRE......................................DELL POTTER

BARON.........................................BEV POOLEY

BROKER....................................DAVE GILBERT

(The Ann Arbor Civic Theater presented Jean Giraudoux's "The Madwoman of Chaillot" at 8 p.m. Wednesday in the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. Further performances are at 8 p.m. today through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.)

By Norman Gibson

Drama Critic

Miss the entire first act of the Ann Arbor Civic Theater production of Jean Giraudoux's "The Madwoman of Chaillot" and you miss nothing but near disaster or a good opportunity to sleep.

They spend that hour-long act carving a very witty, a very precious comedy, scenes filled with high humor and many good laughs.

That seems to be what they are trying to do, but it comes out so flat you can skip pebbles on it and they won't make ripples.

William Cross, the present, his title goes, jumps up, flaps about, bellows and does everything else but stop and wait for the mirth he thinks the audience is going to express. His misplaced  histrionics are rewarded with confused giggles from random places in the auditorium.

Bev Pooley, doing his impressions of a mythical baron, does the role he has refined over and over in many a production in many a theatrical season---the extremely acerbic, cigar-smoking curmudgeon. This time Pooley has picked the wrong play to be Lord Bawly-Bawly, the old dyspeptic.

Is that director Roger Wertenberger cuddling a brandy glass and muffing a line as the prospector who sniffs the oil riches of Paris in it's drinking water? Yes, it is, and his prospector does not do anymore than the rest to mine the riches of this scene.

The whole first act is an extreme embarrassment and affront to Claribel Baird, whom they bill as "Ann Arbor's First Lady of the theater" and who came out of retirement to make her first appearance with the local Civic Theater. She has nothing to play against.

But wait, the locals haven't yet lost to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse arrayed against them--Tedium, Boredom, Bad Acting and Character Assassination.

There's the second half. The thing actually starts it's ascendancy with the appearance of Howard Weinblatt, who seems to have spent his time in determining what it is Giraudoux would like to express rather than what the actor wants to express.

As the ragpicker shining lustrously he tells why the world no longer is happy, Weinblatt is the joyous exception in act one and just one of the brilliant crowd in the second, which is as it should be.

In designing her two sets, maybe Alice Crawford had intuition. Her first set, the cafe terrace, is plain and simple, of no more than ordinary interest. Her second, the countess' cave basement is opulent and striking.

Susan Alford's resplendent period costumes also reach their heights in this act. All the descriptions hardly can express what Miss Baird has to help enrich her performance in the rich and richly rewarding second act.

For a starter, she has Alex Miller coming on as not exactly withdrawn sewer worker, who shows her a downward stairway to the oblivion where she can send Giraudoux's evil machine parts--The Rich, Women Without Morals, Lawyers and The Press.

And this is where the production scores. There appear three actresses in addition to Miss Baird who are having as fine a production as anyone could hope for. There are Nancy House as the madwoman of the French district of Passy, Marina Weidman as the madwoman of Paris' St. Sulpice district, Sandra Hudson as the madwoman of La Concorde.

Their scene is very talky but there is something about the way they suggest what they say has significance, that something is about to happen...something about the way they deport themselves on the stage, even while sitting, that has momentum. They act women as crazy as foxes, and are classy and captivating in their approaches.

Tim Wise, a student at Ypsilanti High School who has toured with a professional magic show, shows how to juggle hoops and cubes in a cast that includes Bob Seeman, Larry Gurtowsky, Ed Lesher, Dave Gilbert, Jim Kane, Art Noriega, Dwight Smith Daniel Hurtado, Phil Potter, Warren Eveland, Frances Martinez, Steve Stuhlbarg, Veronique Liem, Margie Cohen, Virginia Eveland.

Claribel Baird, who plays "The Madwoman of Chaillot" chats with Ed Lesher, a doorman.