'Red Ryder' may be best yet by Proscenium Players

By Sam Bauman

Appeal Entertainment Editor

The Proscenium Players' production of "When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?" more than lived up to the buzz last Friday night at the Brewery's Donald W. Reynolds Theater. This is not an easy play to produce and the cast has to be outstanding to make it work.

The Players did make it work. From the opening scene in the dusty Southwestern 24-hour diner where Jeremy Zutter as Stephen and Michelle Calhoun-Fitts as waitress Angel dueled, he angrily and she accommodatingly, the show was brilliantly presented.

The play's thrust was that there was a divide in America between the good days of the '50s and the sour days of the late '60s, when the nation was losing a war and perhaps its moral compass. In short, where had all the heroes gone?

Patrick Hardy as Lyle, the old man who gets things done at his filling station, perhaps is the symbol of the old, much like the sometimes wistful Angel. Both are truly excellent, and she is probably the center of the play.

Clark (Raymond J. Finnegan) as the owner of the diner is crude and direct, and Peter L Coats as Richard and Micha Marie Stevens as Clarisse are yuppies personified. He at first seems weak but he finally stands up and gets shot in the arm. She is a violin player en route to a concert. She seems to have little to say at first, but eventually explodes convincingly.

Jason Macy is Teddy, a drug-smuggling Vietnam vet, joined by his love-doll Jolene Perretta. Macy is a powerful force on the stage (which incidentally, is about the best set the Players have ever created, deep enough to give the actors room to wander). His performance goes from bluster to moments of quiet, giving him a multi-dimensional depth. She is shallow, a doll in his hands. Director Jeffrey Scott has worked some magic on this cast, creating a riveting drama that ends with a quiet moment of perhaps hope.

The drama continue this Friday and Saturday night and again next weekend. Be ready to applaud. Meanwhile, It was a fine weekend in Carson for entertainment. Lydia Pense and Cold Blood were at the Brewery Arts Center Performance Hall, "Annie Get Your Gun" was at the Community Center, and "Red Ryder."

FROM THE VAULTS

"The Professional" is a kind of thriller that leaves viewers a little confused but certainly entertained. It's the story of an immigrant professional killer "The Cleaner" (Jean Reno), his 12-year-old next-door neighbor Mathilda (a very young and talented Natalie Portman) and Mark Stansfield (Gary Oldman).

Reno, in his trademarked dark goggles, is a laconic assassin who shelters Portman, in a dark Dutch boy wig, after her family is killed in a drug raid.

The pair gradually becomes close as he protects her and teachers her his trade. They move around apartments as the law gets too hot for them, always carrying a potted plant that Leon treats with tenderness. They trade teaching, he showing her how to shoot, she teaching him how to read and write.

Danny Aiello is a Italian mafia type who hires Leon to accomplish hits. He also banks Leon's money for him. He's effective even if you're never sure who's side he is on.

Luc Besson is the writer-director and he keeps the action tense and fast. Reno is superb as a lost man, but he is almost outshone by Portman, whose performance is magical. It was released in 1994 with an R rating.

WEB NOTES

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• Contact Sam Bauman at 881-1236 or Sbauman@nevadaappeal.com.