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Take a trip in time with Little
Traverse Civic Theatre's 'Doors'
Heart, humor and clever
one-liners keep laughs rolling
by
Kristina Hughes
news-review staff writer
If a dominatrix from the future
knew your destiny, would you believe it?
"Communicating Doors," a mix of "Back to the Future" and the
"First Wives Club," takes the concept of a time warp and destiny to a
new level, full of heart, humor, and clever one lines meant to be shared over
the water cooler: The show really makes you wonder, if you knew your future,
would you change it or stop it?
The situational comedy of unlikely characters who are all connected by the same
room has it all---sex, murder, and mystery. They share memorable dialogue and
the characters are just as impressive as their British accents. Mind you it is
Northern Michigan, but you feel swept away like a fly on the wall in an elegant
British suite.
Set in an elegant London hotel and whirling back and forth between 1974, 1994,
and 2014, "Communicating Doors" opens in 2014 with a leather-clad
dominatrix, Poopay, played by Rebecca Sand-Dugas, witnessing a murder confession
of Reece Welles, played by Larry Willis. He is also the assistant director.
The story evolves in the same hotel 20 and 40 years earlier to ask: If the
future was laid out in a handwritten confession, would you stop it?
The show is a thrilling farce, and with comedic wit and heart is directed by
first-time director Chris Schaedig. Schaedig brings the classic time-traveling
comedy to life with a wonderful ensemble cast and a delightful sense of
storytelling. Even before the show begins, the music ties in with the theme of
time, from the Rolling Stones to Prince.
A would-be victim escapes her murderer by traveling back in time. She then
attempts to save the killer's past victims through a revolving door.
Poopay, the childlike dominatrix who calls herself a "specialist sexual
consultant" with an inner Nancy Drew sleuth, steals your heart from the
opening scenes, and carries the play with her candid spirit and depth.
Sand-Dugas, who starred in "Taming of the Shrew," has found her role.
She's wholesome despite her leather-clad, navel-baring getup.
The show opens with Poopay, who gets more than she bargained for when a broken
older man, Reece Welles, shares a story of his successes steeped in blood and
deception. Poopay, who witnesses his confession, escapes Julian, Reece's
henchman and business partner, and ends up in the past the eve of Reece's second
wife's death.
Betsy Willis has a Bette Midler-like quality in her portrayal of Ruella Welles,
Reece's second wife. She is proud, savvy and a take-charge women, who pushes the
easily scared Poopay to her heroic status. The show is full of strong women and
equally dumb men, including Harold Palmer a hotel detective who couldn't solve
the murder in front of him. Chris Koury, who plays Palmer, is often the butt of
the joke and delivers one-liners with the best of them.
Poopay and Ruella are both running away from Julian. If you loved Jerry Christin
as Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof," he has gone to the dark side,
playing Julian Goodman, a shark in a business suit. His cold, calculated menace
as the ruthless business partner with blood on his hands adds a frightening
element to the show.
In the time warp, James Wylie makes his theater debut as the young Reece Welles
on his honeymoon night. Unfortunately there is not much dialogue for the
newcomer, but he brings character to the role. Equally memorable is newcomer
Susan Brown, who plays Jessica Welles, Reece's naive and well-connected first
wife.
The play is full of sexual innuendoes, devilish one-liners, and for the science
fiction fans, time travel.
The tale of communicating doors, time travel by stepping into a connecting door
between hotel suites, known as communicating doors in England, makes you wonder
what really happens on the other side of a suite's door.
I must admit I will never think of a hotel with connecting doors the same--if
only I could go through a connecting door and be at Woodstock.
The show also makes you re-think stereotypes.
And if a leather-clad dominatrix ever approaches me with a story about my
future, I'm more than willing to listen.
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