St. Heaven musical boasts terrific cast and songs

St. Heaven musical boasts terrific cast and songs

by Miryam Gordon - SGN A&E Writer St. Heaven The Village Theatre Issaquah, through October 26 Everett, October 31 - November 23 The Village Theatre has had a major hand in developing the new musical, St. Heaven, now playing on its main stage. St. Heaven went through the New Play Festival program where members of the Village Originals see new musicals and give comments during development. This musical has some wonderful songs, and a generally terrific cast, though it's a heavily religious story. It's nice that the musical doesn't want to "save" you, but it can still be a big (over?) dose of Jesus, for some. St. Heaven is the story of a man who returns to St. Heaven, Kentucky, in 1957 to bury his doctor father. Thom Rivers wants to settle his father's affairs, close his father's medical office and leave town, again. Rivers, played by Allan Snyder, grew up in this small town and hates it and wants to get away as quickly as possible. The townsfolk he grew up with want him to stay and become the town doctor in his father's stead. Snyder makes a rather uncomfortable protagonist. He's not very appealing. He has a lovely singing voice, but much of the dialogue has him whining about getting out of town and how much he hates his father. When his old girlfriend, whom he jilted, and a new woman in town, who has a special "gift" of tongues, both are attracted to him, it's not easy to see why. The musical takes on a number of edgy issues by having an interracial love affair, suggesting and later confirming that the town doctor was in love with his black housekeeper, and exploring the "gift" a woman has for prophesy, which turns out to be at least partly epilepsy. There's a lot to explore. Most of the best songs are church hymns, raucously and energetically performed by a lovely ensemble of players, led by Pastor Joe (Kingsley Leggs). They might make you wish you had a church such as theirs to go to each week. The girl with the gift, Eshie Willington, is luminously played by Tanesha Ross, who can sing a ballad or a rousing prayer with equal success. Cynthia Jones adds a strong female presence as the housekeeper, Millie Walden, bossing people around to "Eat Your Okra" and encouraging Eshie to follow her heart, even though "Love Isn't Easy." The jilted ex-girlfriend is played by Billie Wildrick, singing with sweetness and perhaps an overabundance of forgiveness. Thom's ex-best friend, Garrison (Mark Carr), has a little more bite to him, not as easily accepting Thom's departure and not as eager to have Thom stay in town. But both Wildrick and Carr bring great voices and warm, emotional support to their parts. The dialogue with their characters is the most down-to-earth, and closer to being realistic than any other dialogue. Otherwise, the plot and the dialogue are a bit clichéd, with Pastor Joe not wanting Eshie to take medicine for her epilepsy and just to pray herself well, Eshie struggling to stay with Pastor Joe or to allow herself to be attracted to Thom, and Thom struggling with wanting to go back to a life he's created for himself in Detroit, but finding himself falling for Eshie, instead. All that being said, at least the ending doesn't go exactly the way you'd expect, which helps save the whole musical from a sappy happiness. The technical support from scenic designer Tom Sturge and costumer Cynthia Savage get high marks, as usual. Music director Jeff Waxman, supported by R.J. Tancioco and four others, creates great musical accompaniment. Overall, it's a positive story and the cast takes it up a couple of notches more. If it reinforces for you how awful racism is, even better. For more information, go to www.villagetheatre.org or call 425-392-2202. Comments on reviews go to sgncritic@gmail.com.

photo top: Kingsley Leggs (Pastor Joe Bertram), Tanesha Ross (Eshie Willington) and Ensemble Photo by Jay Koh. Property of Village Theatre. photo bottom: Allan Snyder (Thom Rivers), Tanesha Ross (Eshie Willington) Photo by Jay Koh. Property of Village Theatre.