It's hard these days to find a good script that hasn't been turned into a screenplay -- and vice versa -- and now scratch from the list 1942's Academy Award winner for Best Picture Mrs. Miniver.
Whom to blame? Why, director/producer Vincent Insalaco and helpmeet Judy Tenenbaum who, along with playwright Judy Baker Goss, staged the world premiere Wednesday night at the Argenta Community Theater.
The story follows the Miniver family -- mother, father, draft-age son and two children -- as members slip back from English countryside ease into the privations of war.
"Mommy, is the war over?" little Toby Miniver asks.
"No, darling, it was just the first day."
"Oh good."
Clem and Kay Miniver, while played with Silver Screen-era poise and wholesomeness by Michael Klucher and Paige Reynolds, suffer a bit from a static script. By the intermission, the townspeople and house staff have become more dynamic, more moved by events and simply more fun to watch than the Miniver family. The acting, too, seems to stretch and range the farther the eye moves from Reynolds (Klucher, with his awe-shucks James Stewart manner, delightfully dresses up an otherwise stock patriarch).
Still, the story of a family and a village suddenly swarmed by sirens and wartime broadcasts, aerial bombardment and gender roles -- men to the front; women, the homefront -- is hearty and deeply nostalgic. The entire set is awash in a honey-kissed lambent light, the color of artifacts.
And about that set -- it's big, it's almost unbelievable, it's a fun thing to watch for 21/2 hours.
"That we got this huge thing on this small stage," set designer Sara Cooke marveled before the curtain rose. "Vince [Insalaco] does very large shows, no small sets, no partial sets, so get it all on there."
A modest but helpful historical exhibit of Mrs. Miniver and its wartime context is on exhibit in the beautiful lobby of the theater.
The show continues at 7 p.m. tonight, Wednesday and July 30; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and July 31 and Aug. 1; and 2 p.m. Sunday at Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock. Tickets are $30-$50 and can be purchased at www.argentacommunitytheater.com or (501) 353-1443.
Metro on 07/23/2015