With Jimmy Richards as Pip

My most vivid recollection of this extravagant production was that the set was mounted on three(!) turntables. Ever on the lookout for new technology--which must be superior for it's newness--the powers that be had purchased, probably at great expense, air casters on which to mount the turntables. The advantage, apparently would be that only one person would be required to turn each table (so to speak). But alas, as efficient as they were in that regard, they required a pause of upwards of ten or fifteen seconds to inflate, so each scene (and there were many) was preceded by a great whooshing sound as the turntables rose slightly before they could be turned. Once in place, they had to settle back down with another, different whoosh as the air was let out. Usually they deflated unevenly so each set teetered ever so slightly on the way down. All this necessitated rather loud (rather too loud) incidental music. And to be fair, the sets were spectacular with lots of special effects: fog and fire and smoke. The audience had plenty to keep them busy. The pageantry of it all seemed to make up for the horrendous delays, as no one (but the actors) complained. When we took this show to Chatauqua, as was our custom, the air casters were replaced with good old-fashioned wheels, and we must have cut at least five minutes from the running time. Through all this, the play was a genuine hit. Dickens does hold the stage!

REVIEWS:

THE PLAIN DEALER:

'Great Expectations' is mostly a Pip by Bill Doll

Through much of it, the Play House's 'Great Expectations' which opened Friday at the Drury Theater, has the shimmering glow of old brass and tarnished silver of a print by Currier and Ives or of a novel by Dickens read by a crackling fire.

Which is exactly as it should be. Charles Dickens' tale of Pip, the young orphan who becomes a gentleman and pines for his love, Estella, in the woods and sooty side of Victorian England, is filled with gruesome endearing caricatures which you don't want to let go.

There are the names which sound exactly like their holders look. We have the fat, rosy-cheeked Pumblechook. And we have the cold, unapproachable Jaggers, and the convict Magwitch, fresh from the maggot-filled marshes.

We meet Pip when he is an orphan. He is in the good-hearted care of his sister and her husband, Joe. We follow him into the cob-webbed recluse of Mrs. Havisham. This is the woman who was deserted on her wedding day and wears her wedding gown evermore, leaving her rooms nevermore.

Pip has been brought to Mrs. Havisham to play with her ward, Estella. This young girl has been raised so that men will fall passionately in love with her. But she will be nothing but the instrument of Mrs. Havisham's revenge.

We follow Pip to London, where he arrives thanks to a secret benefactor to become a gentleman. Maybe now he will be worthy of his Estella.

What the story has going for it is a marvelous Victorian look and feel: Estelle Painter's musty, decaying wedding dress for Mrs. Havisham, or the glint of jewelry under the starfched ruffles of young London fops; and Richard Could's English settings alternately foggy and cozy, eerie and lavish.

As bright as that hewelry is some of the acting. Richard Halverson as Jaggers, the lawyer in charge of Pip's fortune, is icy, detached, with the sympathetic edge of a razor blade. Wayne Turney is a good natured friend and tutor to Pip. He is on the stage with a smile and a handshake that makes you wisyh he would not leave. And Evie McElroy is living death personified as Mrs. Havisham.

As for the main characters. James Richards is a virile, trusting Pip. He never loses his country boyishness. Lizbeth MacKay's Estella has the sinister waiting snap of a Cobra about her charm.

Behind it all is Johathan Bolt's direction. He paces us smoothly back into the Victorian mood. Mr. Bolt, in fact, deserves even more credit because Play House actor Paul Lee's script is a mood in search of a drama. It lacks the compelling force of a Dickens story, drawing us wide-eyed with eager trepidation into the swamps and fogs of his world.

THE COURIER EXPRESS

Cleveland Players Lauded by 'Staff Reporter'

CHATAUQUA-- The Cleveland Play house Summer Theater cast of "Great Expectations" received less that its due Thursday night when the audience neglected to award a standing ovation. The Dickens play is one of the most accomplished productions here in recent years.

Accolades should be showered on the Cleveland repertoire's Paul Lee, who took a typically long Dickens tale, pared it down to about a three-hour play and emulated Dickens' talent for totally absorbing his audience.

Director Johnathan Bold, a former Cleveland Play House regular how gone on to other things such as TV's "Adams Chronicles," shows enrichment in this production.

He has combined lighting, music and moving sets to move the audience from one scene to the next, in a skillful manner.

Costumes, Effects

Costumes specially made for this production embellish the interesting sets. Special effects are extraordinary, with one minute's scary fire and smoke turning into the foreboding fog of a marsh as scenery quickly changes.

James Richards, playing the young man Pip, begins the play with a brief narrative that fades into an action scene of Pip's boyhood.

Pip the child is remarkably portrayed for much of the first act by the sprightly David Natale. Later, Natale'

s Pip fades back into Richard's Pip. Richards makes us believe in a grown Pip, flowing easily into the character we have already grown to love through Natale.

Female Part

The same is true of Lizbeth Mackay, who moves into the adult role of Estella with the same simpering snobbery brought to it by young Erica Tarrant. Estella eventually softens as MacKay shows in a more lovely, romantic role.

As in any Dickens novel, a host of characters appears, but topping the list is Lee himself as the rough and frightening convict Magwitch.

Delightful Wayne S.. Turney plays the faithful, true Herbert Pocket. Favorite Evie McElroy appears deadly and cobweblike as icy Miss Havisham. Richard Halverson, as the curt, mysterious Jaggers, and Allen LEatherman, as the kindly, loving brother-in-law, handily complete the major cast.

There was a full house at Norton Hall Thursday. The Cleveland Play House has created some great expectations of its own through the polished production. The curtain rises again Saturday night at 8:15.