Reviews
Published: September 01, 2010
“Tuna’ director speaks
By Maggie Lawrence
Twenty-some years ago, three out of work New York actors were sitting around talking about the small Southern towns where they grew up.
Want to go?
What: “Greater Tuna”
Where: Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre
Call: (703) 550-7384 or visit www.LazySusan.com
Playing through Sept. 19
Twenty-some years ago, three out of work New York actors were sitting around talking about the small Southern towns where they grew up. They reminisced about the types of people who seem to be the mainstays of small towns, and gradually the comic and theatrical possibilities of this idea took root. The result was the first in the “Tuna” series — “Greater Tuna.” In Tuna, the third smallest town in Texas, two men play nineteen characters in a running day-in-the-life-of format, each with his or her own specific identify and theme.
I was fortunate enough to see the originals and have seen others since with varying success. As you might suppose, this is not an easy show, although the originals with their refined facility for characterization make it look easy.
Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre, that intrepid little place with the great buffet down in Woodbridge (they added barbecue to the menu just for this) decided to tackle this piece.
Early on, director Frank Shutts made the wise decision to alternate two casts: Team Tuna consisting of Lyle Smythers and Jeffrey Davis, and Team Texas with Robert Biedermann and Matthew Randall. I saw both teams give their performances. Rather than present them here as a review, I have opted to record an interview with Mr. Shutts about his process:
Star-Exponent: Why did you decide to take on this project? How did that come about?
Frank Shutts: I heard that the Lazy Susan was looking for a director for “Greater Tuna,” and I sent my resume to Glenn, the owner. He called me, conducted a short phone interview, and the job was mine. I took this job because 1) my summer vacation was early enough that I could do a show and 2) because I have always wanted to work at the Lazy Susan. I mean, it’s an establishment! I can also add here, that I am very glad I did.
SE: How many actors were auditioned for the two teams? What stood out to you that these four were chosen?
FS: A total of eight actors auditions so I could have cast the show 4 times. In the auditions, these actors showed me the ability to play different characters with different vocal and physical attributes as well as an innate comic ability.
SE:When did rehearsals begin and what was your process? (Together? Alternately?)
Rehearsals began immediately after casting. We had about 1 week of table work which involved both script and character analysis. The show was blocked in three days. Then an additional 8 weeks of rehearsal. The teams rehearsed separately for the most part except for when Robert was out on tour w/ the Wizard of Oz.
FS: Had any of these four actors ever done multiple character shows before?
To my knowledge, only Matthew had experience playing multiple roles (excluding chorus roles w/ a walk out character) as he played Thurston in another production.
SE:What did you enjoy most about the rehearsal process?
I enjoyed the challenge of helping the actors find different characterizations for their 10 characters, I always enjoy table work, I enjoyed the challenge of bringing this difficult show to the Susan audience. By that I mean, it’s not the usual Susan fare. There is satire and some nights I think the audience gets it and some nights they don’t. The most rewarding aspects, getting to work w/ actors, designers, and a venture unknown to me. I also enjoyed the challenge of breaking the idea that this is a “vehicle show.”
SE:What was most difficult?
FS: And that was the most difficult. I never saw the original team, I allowed myself to see snippets of the video after I had already blocked the show and we were weeks into rehearsal. Having never see the original team perform live, I had to keep telling myself that this was directed for the camera…and that’s a whole different ball game.
SE: Are there any future projects or plays out there that you’d love to get your hands on?.
FS: Oh, there are always future projects/plays I’d like to get my hands on……A few Tennessee Williams plays (Sweet Bird of Youth and The Glass Menagerie) and a few musicals (Radio Gals)…
Maggie Lawrence is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. She teaches drama at CCHS.
Wednesday August 18, 2010 Easy to enjoy this helping of ‘Greater Tuna’
Pair of performers carries numerous characters to hilarity in dinner theater production
by David Hoffman | Special to the Times
The Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre will be serving up a heaping helping of “Greater Tuna” for the next six weeks. 
Photo by Glenn Gates: Matthew Randall as Arles Struvie and Robert Biedermann as Thurston Willlis in “Greater Tuna.”
There are 20-odd characters in the play, with nearly every one of them portrayed as a small-town eccentric — and they’re all played by only two actors, who vary costumes, accents and hairdos in a constant whirl that leaves the audience wondering who will come out next.
The production is the first in a series of four comedic plays set in the mythical small town of Tuna, and has been a huge hit since it first opened in Austin, Texas, in 1981. It was co-written by Jaston Williams and Joe Sears, who collaborated with Ed Howard.
When the play was created, the Ronald Reagan’s presidency was casting early shadows over outposts of liberalism like Austin, home to the state university’s flagship campus and a famously tolerant lifestyle decidedly out of sync with the Christian Right and its political allies in the Republican Party.
“Greater Tuna” is a series of funny vignettes that are strung together with periodic reports from radio station OKKK in a town so right of political and cultural center that it is said by one character — the stoutly determined Bertha Bumiller — that “the Lions Club is too liberal.” Even the book and screen adaptation of “Roots” is proposed for banning in the local library, “because it shows only one side of the slavery issue.”
In fact, the play was originally meant to satirize the foibles of small-town racism and right-wing cultural provincialism right down to a local KKK chapter and another troupe of self-styled “smut-snatchers,” a local group of activists determined to censor “Huckleberry Finn” and “Romeo and Juliet” right off the local high school bookshelves.
Bertha Bumiller is perhaps the key figure since she is Hank’s wife and the mother of twins Charlene and Stanley — who is fresh from reform school and who shocks the play’s light-hearted tone with one riveting confession when he gloats about killing a local judge — and their brain-dead younger sister Jody.
Other key characters include Bertha’s aunt Pearl, who is addicted to killing dogs, called “canicidis” in the play, and R.P. Snavely, the town drunk in hot pursuit of UFO sightings who describes one such close encounter as looking like “a giant hovering chalupa.”
Playing Bertha, Pearl and the other characters in the original and successive Tuna productions was co-author Sears, but in the Lazy Susan production, these and other roles are carried by the boisterous Robert Biedermann, an acting ham with a twist of wry. In his next job, he resumes the character of the Wizard for the ninth time in the national tour of “The Wizard of Oz” beginning in October.
Meanwhile, playing the other set of roles is Matthew Randall, who has played the Biedermann half of the roles in an earlier performance of “Greater Tuna” for Herndon’s Elden Street Players. Randall is an equal in hilarity, morphing into characters such as Didi Snavely, R.P.’s wife and owner of Didi’s Used Weapons, whose slogan is, “If we can’t kill it, it’s immortal!”
Tickets for the show and the buffet meal at The Lazy Susan are $44.95 and are offered Friday through Sunday on through Sept. 19. For reservations, call 703-550-7384.
August Supplement
Lorton Valley Star
Serving the Lorton Community for ten years
Vol.11 No.8 July 2010
E-mail: Byways@LortonValleyStar.com
Greater Tuna comes to Lazy Susan, greater Lorton
Review by Floyd Harrison, Publisher
If you stop in a byway town and you want to get a sense of that place, you can pick up
the community newspaper or you can tune to the local radio station as you pass through.
You could just take a stay-cation and visit “Greater Tuna” at the Lazy Susan in Lorton
through September 19.
So, this is how we begin to spy on the life of Greater Tuna, through radio station
OKKK-Tuna, even before they “remember to throw the ON-AIR switch”. The first thing
you get about Tuna, Texas is that it’s severely hick. Think of the old TV program Hee
Haw. You kids who don’t remember it can Google Hee Haw.
Even this third smallest town in Texas, as slow as the news seems, harbors extremism
and a microcosm of wickedness. But, the news program sounds like neighbors talking
across the fence and feels like gossip. ‘It does, It does’. Bad grammar and all.
A water closet gives the news team a chance to walk off the set for a costume change and
to come back as a feature guest or a defendant in a vignette of the news. Another element
of the humor besides the hickness, is the very sudden diverse costume changes.
However, as there are only two actors playing all of the parts as well as radio anchors,
you never actually see a victim, animal or otherwise. It’s all just funny. At first you think
this couldn’t happen in Lorton, then you realize it could and that it’s the presentation that
makes it funny. You are transported to imaginary scenes in the news.
This unsophisticated town, however deals with grown-up issues in extreme ways.
There’s the ladies group that is a ‘conservative’ split off of the Lions Club. That is a
subliminal humor. There’s the old woman who poisons dogs just because she hates them.
There’s the radical Reverend Spikes who wants to ban books from the library and edit
the dictionary; You won’t believe the choices and ignorant reasons; That’s a hoot. Call
in your nominations for words to be deleted.
The censorship issue draws a reporter from a magazine they don’t have in the Tuna
library, INTELLECT. Greater Tuna doesn’t get it; That’s the punch line for the whole
spoof. It is, friends. ¿It is? It is – it is. And the Reverend Spikes delivers a radio eulogy
for the Judge that is jam-packed with more cliches than you can shake a stick at but he
didn’t miss a lick. When he’s late for the radio because of a tie in with another news
incident, it really gets rich.
Team Texas was a great team. The diverse rolls prove the actors skills. Come to think
of it, how different are a crotchety old woman and an attention deficit little boy? Oh-well.
Anyone would enjoy Greater Tuna and the relief that comes with a laugh at the world and
feeling better about your self. Then you can go out prepared to make the world a better
place for the “right kind of people”. You know, … the desirables.
Dinner and a play together makes a complete evening and there’s no problem with
timing. You can arrive early and enjoy a drink then you don’t have to rush at all to fi nish
in time for the show. It’s served buffet style so you control your own menu and portions.
It’s not as confining as being in a concert hall and I found that the crowd was sociable.
It’s great with a friend or family and actually a bargain considering tickets elsewhere.
When you arrive at the Lazy Susan and drive up the hill, you notice the Farm
landscaping features and architectural style of the building. Come right in anytime after
6:00, The Theatre is arranged with tables on tiers in front of a wide stage. The waiters
are the stage crew and actors themselves so entertainment starts when you are seated.
Extend your night life at Skinny Fatz on the up hill side of the parking lot.
Now Playing through September 19
Directed by LTA’s Frank Shutts
Opens for Cocktails at 6:pm
Pennsylvania Dutch Buffet at
6:30 and Show at 8:pm
Menu for Greater Tuna includes Texas BBQ
Seating is based on date of reservation.
Reserve early.
Regular Admission includes dinner, show, tea,
coffee, dessert and tax.
Sun, Tues, Wed, Thurs, & Fri. $41.95
Saturday $44.95
For Reservations Call 703-550-7384
Gift Certifi cates and Group Rates available;
ask for Karol
Free Buffet & Show
with Purchase of One at
Regular Price. Must present this
Ad, Not valid with any other offer. Limit
three couples. Expires 8-29-’ 10
COUPON
July 31st.“Arlington Weekly News TV”
Rich Massabny/Producer/Interviewer/Reviewer/
RICH MASSABNY Television Host and Producer - Reviews and Interviews
Comcast CHANNEL 69 FiOS Channel 38 Broadcast 2010:
Thurs., 8/5, 6 p.m.; Sat., 8/7, 10:30 a.m.; Mon., 8/9, 8:30 p.m. YouTube.com/arlingtonweeklynews (beginning 8/6) www.richmassabnyreviews.blogspot.com LAZY SUSAN DINNER THEATRE – - “Greater Tuna”
I’ve seen the “Tuna” shows over the years with the originators, Jaston Williams and Joe Sears and I’m happy to report that the “Greater Tuna” show currently playing at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre does it justice. Robert Biedermann and Matthew Randall play the two main roles of Thurston Wheelis and Arles Struvie and at least 10 other characters each to the hilt in the fictitious town of Tuna, Texas. The show revolves around these two guys who are radio personalities and other Tuna citizens. Great fun! Fortunately, “Greater Tuna” plays through Sept. 19, so you have plenty of time to enjoy the show once or twice and the Texas barbeque theme at the famous Lazy Susan buffet beforehand. On some nights two other fellows, Lyle Smythers and Jeffrey Davis take on the zany lead roles. Veteran director Frank D. Shutts II is the ringmaster with help from Mary Beth Smith-Toomey. “Don’t Miss This Funny Show!” For reservations, call the Lazy Susan at 703-550-7384 and check the website at www.LazySusan.com.
5904 N. 4th Rd., Arlington, VA 22203*703-527-2549; fax 703-527-3859 e-mail: richmassabny@aol.com,website: www.richmassabny.com. Rich Massabny is one of the most visible cable television personalities in the Washington, D.C. area. He hosts and produces talk shows and cooking shows with celebrity chefs on Cox, Comcast and Verizon cable stations in Northern Virginia. His shows are seen as often as three times a week, reaching over 1,000,000 homes (including FIOS). He is a regular theatre and restaurant reviewer on Arlington Weekly News TV. His reviews can be seen on YouTube.com/arlingtonweeklynews and on www.richmassabnyreviews.blogspot.com. Rich has interviewed more than 3500 people in the last 24 years covering a wide range of topics, current events and entertainment. His interviews reflect his far-reaching interests and have included former Ambassadors Riad Tabbarah of Lebanon, Boris Biancheri of Italy plus Congressman James Moran, Terence Jones, Pres. and CEO of Wolf Trap, Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy (U.S. Army Ret.), former VA Lt. Gov. John Hager, Norman Scribner, Dir., Choral Arts Society, journalist Helen Thomas and Bob Madigan, Man About Town, WTOP Radio. For a schedule of Rich’s shows, click on TV Host tab.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
July 2010: Mount Vernon Voice Click to read full article
Drinks, dinner and a show — all in one place at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre.
For more than three decades the dinner theater in Lorton near the Fairfax/Prince William County line on Route 1 has been entertaining crowds with live productions of great American plays such “Camelot,” “They’re Playing Our Song,” “The Unsinkle Molly Brown,” “Oliver!,” “The Odd Couple,” “Shenandoah,” “Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web” and “You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown.”
And now for the first time, Lazy Susan has teamed up with the Little Theatre of Alexandria to put on a performance of “Greater Tuna,” a comedy set in Tuna, Texas, the third smallest town in the state populated by a cast of eccentric characters including radio station OKKK hosts Thurston Wheelis, Arles Struvie along with Elmer Watkins, Petey Fisk Rev. Spikes, and the whole Bumiller clan — all played by only two performers.
Saturday night, the crowd at the Lazy Susan chuckled and guffawed throughout the show performed that night by “Team Tuna,” Lyle Smythers and Jeffrey Davis. (“Team Texas,” Robert Biedermann and Matthew Randall, also share performance dates and the team which is performing on a given night is announced at the start of the show.)
The spoof on “redneck America” where the Lion’s Club is too liberal and Patsy Cline never dies, has become one of the most produced plays on the American stage.
At the Lazy Susan, it’s best to arrive early. Doors open for seating at 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday evenings, and 5 p.m. on Sundays, the buffet begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 7 p.m. on Saturdays and 6 p.m. on Sundays and the curtain goes up at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 8:30 p.m. on Saturdays, and 7:30 p.m. on Sundays. (During selected Sunday matinees, doors open at 1 p.m.).
The Pennsylvania Dutch buffet, which is also featuring Texas BBQ during the run of “Greater Tuna,” features salads, relishes, home baked breads, roast beef, chicken and fish, and desserts, all prepared from scratch. Be sure not to miss the rum buns. Invitations to the buffet are based on the order in which you arrive at the theatre.
Also, by arriving soon after the doors open, that gives guests the plenty of time to sip the house drink, the appropriately named “Magna Grande” with light rum and banana liquor. (A non-alcoholic version is also available.)
The dinner theatre, located high on a hill just past the Route 1 South Woodbridge/I-95 split at the intersection of Route 1 and Furnace Road, is fixture in the community, as is the Skinifatz nightclub located nearby and under the same ownership.
The Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre is one of the few surviving dinner theaters that has opened since the heyday of the “chow-biz” in the early 1970s, notes its website.
Theatre manager Karol Kaldenbach is also a fixture there serving as manager there for many years after growing up in the Mount Vernon and Franconia areas. 
Theatre manager Karol Kaldenbach, a Mount Vernon/Lee native, chats with guests Saturday night before the opening of “Greater Tuna” at the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre.
Kaldenbach can been seen evenings greeting guests and chatting with customers before the opening of the performance.
Adult admission on Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays is $41.95, and $44.95 on Saturdays. Tickets for youth ages 11-15 is $35, and $25 for children. The price includes dinner, show, tea, coffee and tax.
For more information, or to make a reservation, call 703-550-7384, or go to www.lazysusan.com. For group information, ask for Karol.
— Steve Hunt
Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre Presents
SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN
September 30 – November 29 
Country music superstar Mel Tillis says “I believe [this] is the finest collection of great old time gospel music combined with hilarious comedy that you will find anywhere!”
SETTING
The play takes place in the Sanctuary of the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Chruch in Mt. Pleasant, North Carolina, located just west of Hickory near the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is a Saturday night in June, 1938. The United States is in the last years of the Great Depressions. Organized religion is at its peak.
CAST BIOS
(In Alphabetical Order)
Jeffrey Bryce Davidson (Stanley Sanders) –
This is Jeff’s 37th appearance on our stage. Favorite roles include Teddy Brewster, Dr. Treves, Sir Evelyn Oakleigh, Rev. Samuel Parris, Abel Frake, and Marc Sharples. Jeff studied his craft with Graham Paul, a Clint Eastwood associate.
Jan Forbes (Burl Sanders) –
Jan last appeared her as Capt. Andy in Showboat. He performed last fall as Al Lewis in Little Theatre of Alexandria’s production of the Sunshine Boys and also starred in the PBS movie The Doll by Emmy Award winning director Dante James. Lazy Susan regulars will also remember him as Alderman Higgs in Witness for the Prosecution, Sir Henry in the Hollow, Admiral Schrieber in the Sound Of Music, Mr. Hasler in the Pajama Game, and Rodgers in Ten Little Indians, as well as other character roles. In 2004 his set for Host and Guest won best set award out of 40 international participants at the New York Fringe Festival, and you may have seen his work for Synetic Theatre at the Kennedy Center since 2005.
Cathy Kidwell (Vera Sanders) –
You have seen Cathy at the Lazy Susan as Miss Marple in A Murder is Announced, Mrs. Fezziwig and a Caroler in A Christmas Carol, Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music, Aunt Eller in Oklahoma!, Lady Westholme in Appointment with Death, Detective in Clue: the Musical, and Parthy in Showboat. Other favorite roles include: Mrs. Potts (Disney’s Beauty and the Beast), Domina (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Lead Soprano (Side-by-Side-by Sondheim) (ACT Nomination for Best Supporting Actress), General Cartwright (Guys & Dolls), Widow Corney (Oliver) and Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).
Katherine Lipovsky (June Sanders) –
Katherine is excited to be in her sixth production at the Lazy Susan, having previously been the female ensemble member in Little Shop of Horrors, Sharpay Evan in High School Musical, Phillipa Haymes in Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced, Mrs. Fred/Fan in A Christmas Carol, and Princess # 12/Nightingale of Samarkand in Once Upon A Mattress. She is a graduate of James Madison University and has a BA in History with a minor in Music.
Kathleen McCormack (Denise Sanders) –
Kathleen was last seen as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. Favorite roles include Liesl (Sound of Music), Nanette (No, No Nanette), Baker’s Wife (into the Woods), and Lady Larkin (Once Upon A Mattress). She was also Assistant Choreographer for MCP’s Evita and A Christmas Carol.
George Rouse (Pastor Mervin Oglethorpe/Stage Manager) –
Recently George appeared as the Puppeteer for Audrey II in Little Shop of Horror, the Wizard in Once Upon A Mattress, Dick Wilkins & the Young Solicitor in A Christmas Carol, and Rudi Scherz in A Murder is Announced. George has often snuck around in his “tech blacks” for a wide variety of shows including Beehive, Steel Magnolias, Grease!, The Mousetrap, Spider’s Web, Murder on the Nile, Guys & Dolls, and No, No, Nanette…to name a few. He became Stage Manager here in 1997. This year marks George’s 15th year at the Lazy Susan.
Jeanne Forbes (Lighting Designer) –
Jeanne has appeared onstage, in the booth, and many other positions here at the Lazy Susan, and is happy to once again design lighting for the Lazy Susan. You may remember her as Parthy in Show Boat, Pauline in No, No Nanette, Ouiser in Steel Magnolias, or Yente in Fiddler on the Roof. Jeanne has been the lighting technician for over 30 shows, and is the produce/director of Young People’s Theatre. Her film/TV credits include Kurt Vonnegut’s Fortitude and the popular TV series M*A*S*H where she appeared as Nurse Able and as Frank Burns’ wife.
John Edward Niles (Music/Vocal Director) –
John has been Musical Director at the Lazy Susan for many years. He is Artistic Director of the Opera of Northern Virginia. He has conducted with Bel Canto Opera and the Prince George’s Opera.
“SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN” is presented through special arrangement with SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. 45 West 45th Street, New York, NY 10010
‘Little Shop of Horrors’ is a show that grows on you
Published: August 13, 2009
Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre Little Shop of Horrors
By Laura & Mike Clark • Sep 17th, 2009 • Category: Reviews
Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre
Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre, Woodbridge, VA
Through September 26th
$41.95-$44.95(Adults)/$35(Ages 11-15)/$25/Ages 10 and under)
2:00, with one intermission
Reviewed September 15th, 2009
Little Shop of Horrors is a musical with book and lyrics by Howard Ashman and music by Alan Menkin. It is the story of a strange plant that finds a home in a florist shop on Skid Row. Its thirst for blood threatens to take over the world.
The cast of Little Shop gave a good solid performance. They had the songs down and the choreography seemed to come as second nature. The Audrey II Puppet was brought down from New York and designed by Martin P. Robinson.
Seymour (Ryan Schaffer) had a quirkiness about him that engaged the audience and made you feel his pain and guilt. The love of his life Audrey (Kathleen McCormick) did well with keeping the New York accent throughout the evening. In her song “Somewhere That’s Green” she portrayed a sincerity that really brought out the emotion in the song. She portrayed the roll as a small town girl trying to make it in the big city, but kept getting knocked around (literally) by life.
The floral shop owner, Mr. Mushnik, was played by Carl Bowman. As Seymour was quirky and awkward, Mr. Mushnik was just plain uptight. Bowman’s mannerisms and facial expressions were classic. He brought an energy to the role of Mushnik through his interactions with both Audrey and Seymour.
One interesting thing was the volume of the performance. The canned music was soft and although none of the performers ever really belted it out (except for maybe “Suddenly, Seymour”) there were times when the singers were louder than the music and may have thrown the tempo off.
The Lazy Susan set is wide, but not terribly deep. This set used three areas that either rotated or slid back and forth in place. The area on stage right could be rotated to become a dentist office or part of the alley on Skid Row. The center section was the florist shop and the actors were good about using the door to go out and keeping that fourth wall separate. The cast rotated the set effectively. Special lighting, designed by Jeanne Forbes, for the solos also helped heighten the mood.
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Photos by Hans Bachmann for the Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre
Cast
- Seymour: Ryan Schaffer/Mark Hamburger
- Audrey: Kathleen McCormick/Tara Leigh Moore
- Audrey II (Voice) Antonio Bullock
- Manipulation: George Rouse
- Chiffon: Janelle Delany
- Crystal: Dena Kolb/Richelle (Rikki) Howie
- Ronnette: Christina Sanchez
- Mr.Mushnik: Carl Bowman
- Orin Scrivello/Mr. Martin/M.Luce: Christopher Culosi
- Bernstein/Ensemble: Katherine Lipovsky
- Skip Snip/Ensemble: Tony Turchiano
- Understudies
- Audrey II: Patrick Doneghy
- Chiffon: Tracy Lu
- Ronnette: Katherine Lipovsky
- Mr. Mushnik: Lyle Blake Smythers
- Orin Scrivello: Tony Turchiano
- Bernstein: Tracy Lu
Crew
- Director: Hans Bachmann
- Producers: Harold E. Gates, Glenn D. Gates
- Assistant Director: Jeffrey Davis
- Stage Manager: George Rouse
- Lighting Designer: Jeanne Forbes
- Musical & Vocal Director: John Edward Niles
- Costumer: Hans Bachmann
- Set: Reggie Eusebio, Aaron Richardson, George Rouse, Linda Shaw, Josh Smith
- Tech: Reggie Eusebio, Aaron Forbes, Jeanne Forbes, Jesse Forbes, Danielle McBride
This article can be linked to as: http://www.showbizradio.net/goto/4179.
Laura & Mike Clark started ShowBizRadio in August 2005 because they love live theater. They each earned a Career Studies Certificate in Theater from Northern Virginia Community College. If you need a stage manager for your production in the Northern Virginia area, contact Mike at MichaelClark.net.
http://stagesbaltimore.wordpress.com
THEATRE REVIEWS: 
Little Shop of Horrors by Priscilla Mack
Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre
If you’re looking for a fun dinner theater show close to Baltimore then “Little Shop of Horrors,” at Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre in Northern Virginia suits the bill.
Lazy Susan’s performers deliver on all the laughs and bizarreness of this former movie and Broadway show.
Mr. Mushnik (Carl Bowman) is struggling with his floral shop.
It doesn’t help that Mr. Mushnik’s shop is located on skid row.
Helping Mr. Mushnik at his floral shop is Audrey (Kathleen McCormick) and the nerdy Seymour (Ryan Schaffer).
It looks like Mr. Mushnik’s business will go bankrupt, but Seymour saves the day.
Seymour introduces a beautiful exotic plant to the shop which catches many people’s attention.
Suddenly, Seymour’s exotic plant, the Audrey 2 helps Mr. Mushnik’s shop with new business.
All are fascinated by this Venus Flytrap which grows bigger all the time.
What most don’t know is the Audrey 2 Venus Flytrap gets larger by, eating people (eek, gross).
Suddenly Seymour is famous because more and more people want to see and hear about the growing plant.
Seymour has a real dilemma.
Should he keep his mouth shut about how Audrey’s abusive boyfriend, the crazy, funny Orin (Christopher Culosi) has met his fate in the belly of the now famous Venus Flytrap at Mr. Mushnik’s store?
Seymour will find out that fame and fortune can truly have it’s price.
As mentioned, a fun show for the whole family.
“Little Shop of Horrors” runs at Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre until September 27th.
Then the tongue-in-cheek, Gospel, Country, comedy show “Smoke on the Mountain” opens at Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre from September 30th to November 29th.
For tickets call 703-494-6311
Christopher Culosi almost steals the show as white-coated dentist by day and leather jacketed hoodlum by night. The routine “Be A Dentist” featuring Orin and the girl trio is a gas. Mr. Culosi also handles two more appearances as Mr. Martin and M. Luce, displaying the full breadth of his comic skills in each.
The show itself is something of a cartoon, so it passes with a shrug that most of the acting has a cartoonish bent appropriate for a spoof. This is especially true of Mr. Mushnik (Carl Bowman) who ranges from hair-tearing despair over the fall of his business to hair-tearing ecstacy over its sudden success. One visual allusion to Tevya from “Fiddler on the Roof” was nicely done, and his cunning plan to adopt Seymour to get control of Audrey II finds a high moment in the routine “Mushnik & Son.”
Audrey II appears in her several growth stages, each one more bizarre and threatening than the last. Special kudos to Antonio Bullock for the commanding voice of the potted carnivore. His duet with Seymour in “Git it (Feed Me)” is a delight.
The set design, not credited in the program, does a satisfactory job of establishing the bounds of the florist shop while separating scenes on the rotating platform. A small quibble: loose curtains and imprecise walls led to audience views of actors walking in the back.
Timing and energy levels are up where they belong creating a pervasive sense that the cast is having as good a time putting this across as we are at getting it. A final spirited reminder from the company that “The Meek Shall Inherit” is followed by helpful advice for those who may someday be faced with a talking, blood-craving, fast-growing monster in a pot: Do not feed the plant!
Margaret Lawrence is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association. She teaches drama and English at CCHS.
Want to go?
What: “Little Shop of Horrors”
Where: Lazy Susan Dinner Theatre, Woodbridge, Va.
Call: (703) 550-7384 or (703) 494-6311
Playing through Sept. 27
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