Along with our dear friends Rocky and Jennifer Bilbrey, Emily and I enjoyed the best production we have seen yet at the Snyder Auditorium of Wytheville Community College. Christmas Belles, a hilarious holiday comedy composed by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, is chock full of southern-fried sarcasm and the perfect remedy for anyone with the holiday blues. With the best ensemble cast I have ever seen from this group, director Janice Pryor truly outdid herself with this terrific production, which was a true holiday delight for all its spectators. A church Christmas program spins hilariously out of control in this Southern farce about squabbling sisters, family secrets, a surly Santa, a vengeful sheep and a reluctant Elvis impersonator. Its Christmastime in the small town of Fayro, Texas, and the Futrelle Sisters, Frankie, Twink and Honey Raye, are not exactly in a festive mood. An irritable Frankie (Frances Moore) is weeks overdue with her second set of twins. Twink (Tina Edwards), recently jilted and bitter about it, is in jail for inadvertently burning down half the town. Hot-flash-suffering Honey Raye (Lorri Huffard) is desperately trying to keep the Tabernacle of the Lambs Christmas Program from spiraling into chaos. But things are not looking too promising. Miss Geneva (Carol Easter), the ousted director of the previous twenty-seven productions, is ruthless in her attempts to take over the show. The celebrity guest Santa Claus, played by Frankies long-suffering husband, Dub (Robert “Joe” Burnett), is passing a kidney stone. One of the shepherds refuses to watch over his flock by night without pulling his little red wagon behind him and the entire cast is dropping like flies due to food poisoning from the Band Boosters Pancake Supper. When Frankie lets slip a family secret that has been carefully guarded for decades, all hope for a successful Christmas program seems lost, even with an Elvis impersonator (James Logan Thomas) at the manger. However, in true Futrelle fashion, the feuding sisters find a way to pull together in order to present a Christmas program the citizens of Fayro will never forget. Their hilarious holiday journey through a misadventure-filled Christmas Eve is guaranteed to bring joy to your world! Let us not forget Gina Jo “G.J.” Dubberly, Frankie and Dub’s daughter (Savannah Shaver) and her love affair with the nervous young pastor Justin Waverly (G. Clint Helton), Raymond Chisum the loveably mentally challenged Dairy Dog employee (Michael Easter), Patsy Price, the pompous local society matron (Barbara Brown) and Rhonda Lynn Lamperly, the friendly Dairy Dog manager (Sue Sprano). I must admit a slight partiality to this last character, as my mother’s name is Rhonda Lynne. While it was great to see Frances Moore, one of my favorite local actors on stage again as well as some of my customary favorites such as Robert “Joe” Burnett, Barbara Brown, Clint Helton, and Carol and Michael Easter, there wasn’t really one actor that stood out over another. This was truly and ensemble effort in every sense of the word. Everyone was brilliant in their own right, although the comedic banter between Burnett and Helton as the department store Santa and Rudolph as well as the inebriated recitation of the Christmas by Brown stand out as my favorite scenes. With a brilliant elaborate set constructed by local craft master Roger Dean Grubb, it was great to see a delighted full house for this December 5th show, the third of four performances offered. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it until the second weekend. However, hearing the talk around town and judging from the capacity crowd that night, my help wasn’t needed to get the word out about this show. For once, I am glad of this. This show deserved sellout crowds and standing ovations every night for its stellar cast, fresh new material and the dedicated hard work so obviously rendered by the crew to give this production a just success. I even talked to several people who enjoyed it so much that they were seeing the show multiple times. For those of you who missed Christmas Belles, you really missed a treat. Seeing this show made my Christmas season a lot brighter this year and evermore proud of the immense local talent we have right here in Wytheville. Everyone is so kind and gracious, too. I even feel star-struck to meet some of the actors. This is first-class theater at a price cheaper than a movie. I strongly encourage you to seize every opportunity to see a Wytheville Community College theater production. You will be as amazed as I am with every performance.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 00:59:58 +0000
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