‘Urinetown,’ ‘The Little Foxes’ pace community theater in 2005

* EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of four columns reviewing the year 2005 in local theater.

Generally, in this column’s year-end assessment of productions and performances at our two local community theaters, one show stands out above the others. This year there were two superb accomplishments, decidedly different but both meriting the honor of ranking No. 1 in our annual review.

Both “Urinetown: The Musical” at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse and “The Little Foxes” at the Newport Theater Arts Center reached for the stars and grabbed quite a few. The musical satire and the vintage drama simply excelled in production quality and must share the blue ribbon for 2005.

Director Greg Zerkle’s staging of “Urinetown,” this column’s review noted, “has kicked off the new community theater season in rip-roaring style, mounting a terrific production ... [that] compares favorably with the touring professional version which played at the Orange County Performing Arts Center last season.”

Earlier in the year, Lillian Hellman’s “Little Foxes,” in the capable directorial hands of Phyllis Gitlin, was “still powerful stuff when performed by actors of the caliber of the Newport cast.” The show was labeled “a gripping drama steeped in desperation.”

Runner-up to these two excellent efforts was the vintage farce “Twentieth Century” by Ken Ludwig, presented in sparkling period style by director Beverly Turner, who “transformed this vintage comedy into a rib tickling repast.”

Another oldie, Neil Simon’s “Biloxi Blues,” takes third place for its production at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, directed by Michael Dale Brown. As this column’s review noted, Brown “has fashioned a gritty, often grim production that nevertheless clings to its comedic roots.”

Costa Mesa also occupies fourth place for “The Secret Garden,” directed by Ryan Holihan, who “found a way to make the show work” on a minuscule stage. Fifth position goes to the recent “Smoke and Mirrors,” Darlene Hunter-Chaffee’s “evening of lively second guessing and some terrific entertainment.”

For top individual honors, the two standouts are Kyle Myers, both for “Falsettos” and “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, and Harriet Whitmyer, excellent in contrasting performance styles in “Little Foxes” and “Breath of Spring” at Newport.

Other actors turning in sterling performances in local community theater this year were Paul Pakler, Ryan Holihan and Rodney Pallanc, all in “Biloxi Blues”; Peter Stone and Michael Ross in “Little Foxes,” Skip Blas in “Twentieth Century” and the duo of Howard Patterson and Jack Messenger in “Smoke and Mirrors.”

Actresses distinguishing themselves on the Costa Mesa and Newport stages included Alyson Fainbarg, The Secret Garden”; Teri Ciranna, “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” in Costa Mesa and “Breath of Spring” in Newport; Susan E. Taylor for both “Little Foxes” and “Twentieth Century”; Cherise Greene, “Holiday,” and Teresa Ravnikar, “Breath of Spring.”

One other category remains -- collegiate theater -- which will be examined in two weeks as we review accomplishments at UC Irvine, Orange Coast College and Vanguard University. The final installment in this series arrives Dec. 30 with the naming of the Daily Pilot’s annual man and woman of the year in theater.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews appear Fridays.

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