Love, laughter and lessons learned in SMP's "The Foreigner"

--- Theater review

Just in time for fall and Halloween, the Sierra Madre Playhouse presents "The Foreigner" a sometimes spooky, but always entertaining comedy written by Larry Shue and directed by SMP favorite, Stan Kelly.

Jon Powell plays Charlie Baker, a depressed and ultra-shy Englishman (think Eeyore in a three-piece suit) whose Army friend, Sgt "Froggy" plops him down in a fishing lodge in backwoods Georgia for a few days while he´s on a training mission.

(The lodge setting for this show is wonderfully authentic – kudos to set designer, David Calhoun and property mistresses, Anne Marie Atwan and Ruth Thompson.)

The Sergeant (played by Mark Rainey) hopes this change of scenery will help his gloomy friend forget his troubles, but Charlie is terrified at the thought of being left alone with strangers. "What will I say to them?" he wails. Seeing his misery, Froggy promises Charlie that he needn´t talk to anyone.

Then, thinking quickly, he convinces the good-hearted Aunt Betty (Joanie Marx) that her new guest is a "foreigner" who can´t speak English. He cautions her that "Char-oo-lee" must not be spoken to lest he feel embarrassed and ashamed.

Betty, who´s always wanted to travel the world like Froggy, is thrilled to have an exotic stranger staying at her lodge, and tells the other guests to "pay no attention" to him.

That´s when the fun begins. Residents and visitors to the lodge talk around Charlie as if he wasn´t there, and what he sees and overhears – including a few mean-spirited tricks on an innocent boy, a confidential confession, and a diabolical plot against Aunt Betty – forces him to come out of his shell and, (gasp) become a hero.

J. R. Mangels plays the simple, but endearing Ellard Simms. Charlie´s interactions with the boy are some of the funniest (and most heart-warming) in the show. (There are good lessons to be learned here!)

Pretty Lindsey Ballew plays Ellard´s older and very stressed-out sister, Catherine. She finds the silent Charlie easy to confide in. But her smooth-talking fiancé, Reverend David Marshall Lee (played by Jay Bingham) has "plans" for her and for her Aunt Betty´s lodge that are not charitable.

The play´s few dark scenes emanate from the bigoted "red-neck" Owen Musser (played convincingly by Jack Kennedy). He´s the disgusting villain you love to hate. But he has a superstitious nature that Charlie discovers and exploits – much to the delight and approval of the audience.

"The Foreigner´s" subtle lessons in tolerance and kindness are cleverly packaged in a laugh-out-loud humor and hilarity that entertains and satisfies at many levels.

Playing: Friday and Saturday evenings at 8 pm and Sundays at 2:30 pm, through November 14, 2009

Tickets: $20.00 general; $17.00 for seniors and students; $12.00 for children under 12.

Call: (818) 244-8481 for reservations. Online ticketing at: www.sierramadreplayhouse.org

The Playhouse is located at 87 W Sierra Madre Blvd, in Sierra Madre, CA 91024