Wit On Wheels
WIT ON WHEELS
AACT launches 'Man Who Came to Dinner' tonight
By EDITH LEAVIS BOOKSTEIN
NEWS SPECIAL WRITER
Never mind commodities. The smart investment of this fiscal year might well be wheelchairs, as local theatres gear up for productions featuring famous invalids.
Ann Arbor Civic Theater’s “Duet For One” has finished its run, but coming up are Eastern Michigan University’s “Amadeus,” the popular Mozart-Salieri confrontation in April; and AACT’s production of the Hart-Kaufinan comedy, “The Man Who Came To Dinner,” opening tonight at the Michigan Theater.
George S. Kaufman has been called the master of the destructive jest. His partner Moss Hart was equally adept with wisecracks and verbal ripostes. Writing together, their ricochet sense of humor gave new impetus to a style of humor which had been languishing. Its non-stop, rapid-fire preposterousness was pure Marx Brothers (for whom Kaufman had earlier written “Coconuts”).
“The Man Who Came To Dinner” is a cautionary tale of a world-famous theater critic, becalmed by fate and an icy staircase. The character of Sheridan Whiteside, sycophant-bashing, razor-tongued curmudgeon, was based on the irascible personality of Kaufman’s and Hart’s crony, critic Alexander Woollcott.
Charles Sutherland is directing “Man.” For him this production was a long-term dream. He says, “I've been proposing this for years. I just had this image of Bev Pooley in a wheelchair on the Michigan stage. It’s the perfect part for him.”
Kaufman and Hart are consummate name-droppers. During his brief Midwestern sojum, critic Whiteside cables Mahatma Ghandi for a lunch date, lines up legendaiy opera luminaries Flagstad, Tibbett and Martinelli for a charity benefit, and is deluged with presents from movie stars and Arab potentates.
It is sheer madness, a laundry list of glitterati. Sutherland calls it “ A celebration of trivia - it makes triva seem like what you should be doing.” “The Man Who Came To Dinner” was one of the team’s most popular comedies. It had a very successful run on Broadway with actor Montey Wooley in the lead; the now-classic movie came out only two years after the Broadway opening.
For Sutherland, this play has style.
“It has a sophisticated patter -the kind of thing missing today,” he says. “We can eavesdrop on a world of sophistication which is lost forever. Most celebrities today are trying to escape public attention. Those people revelled in it. Those times celebrated the beauty and charm they bring into the world. There has never been an equal to that time -the Algonquin round table - that kind of conversation!”
Ann Arbor Civic Theater presents "The Man Who Came To Dinner" by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart at the Michigan Theater Oct. 16-19. Tickets are $12-$15. For information call 668-8397.
PREVIEW
Appearing in AACT's production of 'The Man Who Came To Dinner': Beverley Pooley, front, as Sheridan Whiteside, and, back, left to right, Ted Hefley (Dr. Bradley), Bill Jarratt (Bert Jefferson), Laurie Atwood (Maggie Cutler), Jimmie Dee Arnold (Beverly Carlton), and Sharon Sussman (Lorraine Sheldon).