A ‘Quiltmaker’s Gift’ for Laguna Beach

Tom Titus

The quest for material possessions, as prevalent today as it was in

ancient times, will be examined musically next weekend at the Laguna

Playhouse when the Youth Theater presents the West Coast premiere of

“The Quiltmaker’s Gift.”

The Laguna production will be only the third staging of this

property, adapted from a popular children’s book by Jeff Brumbeau.

The show opens next Friday and runs two weekends, through Dec. 21.

Although not a Christmas story per se, “The Quiltmaker’s Gift”

offers many of the lessons passed down by Charles Dickens in his

classic “A Christmas Carol” -- the stage version of which currently

is enjoying its 24th annual production at South Coast Repertory. And

several past and present repertory members are involved in the Laguna

show -- among them musical director Diane King Vann, set designer

Dwight Richard Odle and lighting designer Donna Ruzika.

“This very simple story of greed to charity (heartless to

heartfelt) happens through the prism of ‘more is better’ and ‘more

makes happy,’ observes the play’s director, Donna Inglima. “The

protagonist, a king, journeys from wealth to simple, from riches to

richness of life by giving his ‘things’ away.”

The show reunites the playhouse with composer Craig Bohmler, who

adapted the score for Laguna’s “Old Wicked Songs” in 1998 and wrote

“Gunmetal Blues” for a 1999 production which spotlighted playhouse

artistic director Andrew Barnicle. Barnicle returned to the stage in

2000 in “Enter the Guardsman,” also featuring music composed by

Bohmler.

“Craig Bohmler’s music is vastly textured and vocally demanding,”

Inglima declared. “He’s written rangy songs, contemporary and

classical, that reveal character, time, place and complexity of story

structure. We have taken his musical and added live instrumentation

as opposed to the “tape” or Karaoke style of performance that were

used in his first two productions.

“In a phone discussion with Craig, he said, ‘I never thought

anyone would do the play with a live orchestra,’” Inglima added. “He

was thrilled and is looking forward to seeing the final dress and

opening night performances.”

In this musical stage adaptation of Brumbeau’s book, a young boy,

imagining that he is a king, demands a toll to be paid by an old man

so that he can pass. The old man is poor, but offers to tell the lad

the story of a real king and a wise and generous quiltmaker with

magic in her fingers and love in her heart, who sews the most

beautiful quilts in the world -- and gives each one away to a needy

recipient.

Under the quiltmaker’s guidance, the king is transformed as he

gives away his precious things all around the world and learns the

true meaning of happiness by bringing joy to the lives of others.

“Our actors are a strong mix of adults and youths,” Inglima noted.

“Many of our local favorites are returning to lend their talents to

the production.” These include Cory Cason as the young king, Jay

Skovec as the bear, Karan Founds-Benton as the quiltmaker and James

Harris as the old man.

Performances of “The Quiltmaker’s Gift” will be given 7:30 p.m.

Fridays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; and 1 and 5 p.m. Sundays through

Dec. 21 at the playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach.

Tickets range from $16 to $19 and may be reserved by calling (494)

497-2787.