"The Rivals" opens VPA season with plenty of laughter

WASILLA -- Bath is where the Romans went to recuperate, where the English went to rejuvenate, and where Alaskan audiences will go to convulse with laughter.

Set in Bath, England in 1775, Richard Brinsley Sheridan's classic comedy of manners, "The Rivals," opens Valley Performing Arts' 26th season with horse play, gun play and witty repartee.

Presented by Valley Performing Arts and Wells Fargo Bank, in association with Professional Colorgraphics, Lucas Chiropractic and Q99.7 FM, "The Rivals" runs for three weekends between Sept. 28 and Oct. 14.

Friday and Saturday performances begin at 8 p.m., Sunday matinee shows begin at 2 p.m.

This play has been famous for its spoofing of the sentimentality that forces an ideally eligible suitor to disguise himself in wooing a girl, so that she can think marrying him will mean romantic poverty -- and thus to become his rival.

Tim Queripel will have the role of the dashing Captain Absolute, who pretends to be a poor ensign named Beverly, rather than the son and heir of the wealthy Sir Anthony Absolute, in order to win the affections of the lovely Lydia Languish.

Her head has been turned by reading too many novels about the elopements with poor young men. Aurora Pease will be the Lydia who thinks she has been basely betrayed into falling in love with the beau her guardian has chose for her, since she would rather have flown in the face of authority.

Janet Girard will enact the role of the guardian who is her aunt, Mrs. Malaprop, whose ludicrous distortions of the English language have made her name a by-word for anyone who misuses long words.

Thomas Jacobs will have the part of Sir Anthony Absolute, the hero's father, who nearly pops all his buttons when he thinks his son refuses to marry the girl he has chosen for him.

A subplot to this tale of youthful rebelliousness and romance deals with the exaggerated jealousy of Captain Absolute's friend, Faulkland, to be played by Warren Foster, for his fiancŽ, Julia, to be played by Megan Romine.

Still another subplot concerns the bumbling courtship of Lydia by the country rube, Bob Acres, to be played by Todd Romine, and his being reluctantly pushed into challenging the nonexistent Ensign Beverly to a duel, by the fire-eating, fortune-hunting Sir Lucius O'Trigger, who will be played by Steven Cuthbert.

Colleen Crinklaw, Ron Roberson, Gunnar Babcock, Ernie McClelland and Jake Peterson (Lucy, Fag, David, Thomas and the boy) will fill out the cast as servants impudently helping the various conspiracies become entangled and disentangled.

"The Rivals" is being directed and designed by Rod Mehrtens with an emphasis on the wit and elegance of its lines and the humor of its situations, which have made it one of the world's most admired comedies for more than 200 years.

Decorating the characters in their finest costumes will be Bea Adler. And to show off these delightfully funny characters in their best light will be Matthew Immel.

Rendering the colors of 18th century Bath is Rose Hendrickson, the scenic artist.

The entire production is being managed under the watchful eye of stage manager Dennis Little.

Tickets for "The Rivals" are $16.50 for adults and $14 for youth and seniors. They are available at all CARRS TIX outlets.

Student rush tickets, at half the adult price, are available at the start of the show.

For more information, interested people may call Fred and Sara Machetanz Theatre at 373-0195, the message machine at 373-9500, or visit the VPA Web site at www.valleyperformingarts.org.

Each year, Valley Peforming Arts presents a range of performances, from Shakespeare to modern comedies.

Performances take place at Fred and Sara Machetanz Theatre, which is located at 251 W. Swanson Ave., near Wasilla Wonderland playground.