© The Wichita Eagle
Feb. 13, 1993


Music Theatre Offers a Valentine's Weekend Confection
By Susan L. Rife

Like a heart-shaped box of luscious candy, "Songs of Unlikely Lovers" is a perfect Valentine for someone you love. Breaking away from the standbys of musical theater, six actors and three musicians have combined their talents in the second annual Valentine's weekend show.

The format chosen by writer- director Wayne Bryan and musical director Laura Bergquist is relaxed and private in the intimate Mary Jane Teall Theatre. Against a simple swagged curtain with a bench and a couple of pots of ivy, the singers meet, fall in love, fall out of love and sing of the joy, sorrow, laughter and pain that is love.

Bryan serves as emcee, giving a bit of history for each of the 38 tunes in the show and grabbing many of the funniest bits for himself.

He has collected a fine group of singers to share the stage with him: longtime Music Theatre veteran soprano Charleen Ayers; Michael Gruber, who dazzled in "Singin' in the Rain" in 1992; newcomer Martha Hawley; returning sprite Annie Morrison; and quintessential leading man Ron Raines.

Each brings a distinctive voice that can shine in solos or as part of a duet, quartet or ensemble piece.

The music chosen for its pairings of unexpected, unwanted or unrequited love ranges from Cole Porter and George Gershwin tunes to pieces from such contemporary Broadway hits as "Falsettos" and "Miss Saigon."

Wichita audiences familiar with Ayers, Bryan and Morrison will be pleased with the complementary voices added by Hawley, who ranges from Mermanesque in Irving Berlin's "Call Me Madam" to delicately ironic in Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns"; and Raines, who possesses a robust, traditional music-theater voice that harmonizes especially well with Ayers' soprano.

There's just enough mix of the familiar and the unexpected to keep the evening lively and fresh. Tunes with the bite of a cherry center are Morrison's version of "Say That We're Sweethearts Again" from "Meet the People," in which she laments her lover's repeated attempts on her life; and Bryan's squirmy, twitchy schoolboy in love, "Miss Logan" from "New Faces."

The chocolate caramels are the ensemble piece "Human Heart" from the new off-Broadway show "Once On This Island"; Gruber and Morrison's pensive "Sun and Moon" from "Miss Saigon"; and Bergquist and Morrison's duet "I Know Him So Well" from "Chess."

Bergquist's piano accompaniment is nicely rounded out by Tom Fowler on woodwinds and Gretchen Jones on harp.

Additional performances at 2 p.m. today and 7 p.m. Sunday in the Mary Jane Teall Theatre, Century II. Tickets are $12.50 and $17.50.


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