PLAYHOUSE REVIEW: "Smoke on the Mountain"

By Pat Robbennolt / Chronicle contributor

I have lost count of the number of times I have seen Smoke on the Mountain.

It was in 1993 that a cast of Smoke on the Mountain first brought this musical production to the Playhouse stage. I have been watching for the past twelve seasons. The show continues to be ever new for me. I always try to bring newcomers and visitors to share it.    

There is a unique sense of oneness among this particular cast. They are cast in same roles each plays in Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming. Their fine voices blend in remarkably beautiful ways. There are 27 songs in all, including four each in the “Blood” and “Transportation” medleys. You will be tapping your foot as you listen and humming the songs for days. Their varied voices and amazing ability to play many instruments is the heart of the show. 

In this new version of Smoke on the Mountain directed by Daniel Black, the changes and development of each character is uniquely seen. Skilled direction of each individual cast member is required to make such growth apparent. Each new director and each new cast member inject subtle surprises. Black has led this seasoned cast to be masters of pauses.

As the show opens we share with the Rev. Mervin Oglethorpe, played by Jason Ross, a long confused silence. His is a puzzled searching for a reason the Sanders family are not present. Ross has been a favorite at the Playhouse since he joined the company in 1996. Ross need only walk upon the stage to bring smiles to our faces with laughter bubbling just beneath the surface. The opening pause is interminable, yet Ross pulls it off. At last, when we, and Ross, feel we can endure it no longer, June Standers, played by Ann Staler, dashes apologetically onto the stage. We have seen the versatility of Staler’s acting ability in Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, Flight of the Lawnchair Man, and First Baptist Church of Ivy Gap.

June Sanders, the eldest of the three Sanders children, is a difficult role. She signs for an audience that is not deaf; she cannot sing. Her actions fill stage space while the rest of the family sings yet the focus remains on the music. We are never sure how old June actually is. At times, she projects adolescence as she pouts when Oglethorpe flirts with younger sister, Denise. She is the wide-eyed teen when telling of her visit to the hydroelectric plant. By the end of the show, she has become the young adult responding ever so subtly to the Rev. Oglethorpe’s shy advances. She reminds us that “when we listen and truly hear, we can form a relationship.” Might this be a better world if more of us could affirm, like June: “my job is listening”?  

Lauren Marshall, as Vera, is the matriarch of the Sanders clan. Like Staler, she is in her first season as part of the CCPH family. She does a fine job of playing a woman the age of her mother (or older). Her interchanges with Ross are priceless. Whether seeking to upstage one another’s biblical knowledge or her silent derisive looks, their interchanges add much. Like the rest of the cast, she is a multitalented musician. She is a skilled violinist. Clearly that is her instrument of choice but she is fine on the piano. She may need to watch those of us termed “seniors” as we walk.

Stanley Sanders, played superbly by Blake Holmes, is the tragic figure of the show. The audience on the night I was in the audience, tittered nervously at the news that he had been imprisoned. Stanley is being offered a new life. He is struggling to accept that gift. Holmes has Stanley clearly on the defensive and ready to take offense early in the show. Ross makes obvious that this man frightens Oglethorpe. Holmes portrays well the pain and the depth of emotion of Stanley during his monologue about a fellow inmate. We see him finally willing to receive unexpected acceptance. He relaxes and allows himself to become part of the family as the show progresses. Holmes and Tommy Hancock, playing his brother Burl Sanders, join their voices magnificently as they sing “Meet Mother in the Skies.”

This is Hancock’s fifth season with the CCPH. We have seen him in several shows. His monologue about his encounter with the beer salesman is expanded in this show. Hancock made the audience feel that we, too, had to help scrub up the spilled beer. 

Summer Dawn Wallace is again playing Denise, the girl twin. It is good to have her back at the Playhouse. Her tale of sneaking off to audition for the role of Scarlet O’Hara is beautifully done.  

Black plays Dennis, the boy twin, as shy and withdrawn at the beginning of the show. He milks his sermonette in a wondrous way! The bang of his head on the pulpit in hopelessness was a fitting amen to it. His recitation of seeking to save the soul of his dog Rufus was really moving.  

Yes, we are all ladybugs, banging ourselves on the screen doors of life! If you do not understand that line, you need to see Smoke on the Mountain.

 

 

           

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