CONWAY — The Conway Dinner Theater advertises “an evening of laughter” as it invites patrons to its next production, Never Too Late, by Summer Arthur Long.
The play debuted on Broadway in 1962, and the movie version was released in 1965. Both starred Paul Ford and Maureen O’Sullivan as Harry and Edith Lambert, a middle-aged couple who are about to become parents — 24 years after the birth of their first, and only, child, Kate.
The local production of Never Too Late will open at 7 p.m. Friday, with a show only, at the Conway Dinner Theater, 2201 Washington St. Saturday’s performance will be a dinner-and-show event, with dinner served at 6:15, followed by the show at 7.
An additional show-only performance will be presented at 7 p.m. May 20. Additional dinner-and-show performances are scheduled for May 14 and 21. A Sweet Show performance will be presented at 2 p.m. May 15 and will feature dessert only.
The dinner menu includes Yankee pot roast, roasted vegetables, salad and peach cobbler a la mode. Parents from the Faulkner Academy of Arts, sponsor of the Conway Dinner Theater and the Conway Women’s Chorus, will cater the meal.
Tickets for show-only performances are $15 for adults and $6 for children 10 and younger. Tickets for dinner-and-a-show performances are $28 adults for adults and $12 for children 10 and younger. Tickets for the Sweet Show are $20 for adults and $8 for children 10 and younger.
Tickets may be purchased online at faulkneracademyofart.org or by calling (501) 339-7401.
“The show takes place in the home of Harry and Edith Lambert,” said Mike King, director of the upcoming production and manager of the Conway Dinner Theater. “Their daughter, Kate, and son-in-law, Charlie, live with them. Harry and Charlie are always arguing, mostly about really stupid things. Harry owns and runs a lumberyard, and Charlie works with him.
“Edith, in the beginning of the show, is always running after Harry, making sure that he is happy,” said King, who also plays the part of Mayor Crane in Never Too Late.
“She never goes through the house without running from one place to another. Harry is oblivious to her nonstop marathon through the house and is basically consumed about the things that are important to him. Edith nearly always defers to him. However, things soon change,” King said.
“Edith can best be described as a frumpy housewife as the show begins. She wears little makeup, if any, and always dresses in drab attire,” King said.
“However, midway through the show, all of that changes. She comes home one day from a shopping trip with her friend Grace, dressed to the nines. Not only has [Edith’s] wardrobe changed; she has adopted a completely new hairstyle,” he said.
“Harry, Kate and Charlie can’t believe their eyes,” King said with a laugh. “They want to know why this sudden change has occurred. It turns out that Edith has found herself pregnant. From that point on, everything changes, and craziness reigns.
“It is a hilarious show, and it is sure to generate heaping doses of belly laughs.”
Tammy Coyle of Conway serves as assistant director of Never Too Late.
“I was assistant director of Never Too Late 20-plus years ago in Pekin, Illinois. It is just as funny now as it was then,” Coyle said.
“When Mike and I were planning the season, we were having problems finding a comedy. We wanted something family-friendly,” she said.
“I suggested Never Too Late,” Coyle said. “I suggested we do it in modern-day time. We already had two period pieces planned for the end of the season — Angel Street (Gaslight) and The Miracle Worker. So that is how we chose this play.”
Members of the cast of Never Too Late include the following:
• Bill Meehan of Conway appears as Harry Lambert.
“Harry is used to having his own way,” Meehan said of his character. “He doesn’t like change, … but something is about to uproot his
whole world.
“This is a fun character to play,” Meehan said with a smile. “I like comedy. My mother always told me I was funny looking. I even tried my hand at stand-up comedy for a time.
“This character is really funny,” he said. “This show has got some really funny lines.”
Meehan is a veteran actor with the Conway Dinner Theater. His last appeared in the March production of The Mousetrap, by Agatha Christie.
• Debbie McConkie of Conway plays the part of Edith Lambert.
This marks McConkie’s acting debut.
“This is the first time I have been in a play anywhere,” McConkie said with a smile.
“I have always loved Broadway plays and been to them with my husband, Bud. My son, Steven McConkie, had been in a play here (Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott in 2014). That sparked my interest,” she said.
“Then I saw the audition notice about this play and thought it might be fun. I am excited to be Edith. She’s always running around, always busy. I’m a lot like that,” McConkie said.
“This is a great group of people,” she said of her fellow cast members in Never Too Late. “We have all meshed well.”
• Eamonn Mayo of Conway plays Dr. James Kimbrough.
This marks the first time Mayo has appeared at the Conway Dinner Theater. A 2013 graduate of Conway High School, [along with McConkie’s son], Mayo appeared in drama productions there and at
his church.
“This is really fun,” he said of Never Too Late.
Mayo just completed his junior year at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where he is majoring in political science. He is a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at UCA and upon graduation will be a commissioned officer in the Army.
• Kendra Thomas of Conway portrays Grace, the nurse.
Thomas graduated from UCA in 2015 with a degree in music. She now teaches privately at Faulkner Academy of Arts and has appeared in several musicals at the Conway Dinner Theater, including Little Shop of Horrors.
“This is my first dramatic role with this group. I’m a little rusty,” she said.
“My character, Grace, is a little sassy, kinda like me. I like that,” Thomas said. “She knows things about people and gives advice. She
rarely minds her own business.
“I like this character. She is a modern-day woman trapped in a middle-aged body.”
• John Nelson of Perryville plays Charlie, the son-in-law of Harry and Edith Lambert.
“He’s a goofball,” Nelson said of his character, who plays solitaire all of the time.
“He’s called a lot of things in the play, even an idiot. I like this character,” Nelson said with a laugh. “Where else could I play a goofball?”
Nelson first appeared at the Conway Dinner Theater in The Mousetrap.
He was active in theater at Morrilton High School, where he graduated in 2013. He completed a year of study in personal training at Heritage College in Little Rock and is now a chiropractic assistant at Hurley
Chiropractic in Conway.
• Jessica Booker of Conway appears as Kate, the Lamberts’ daughter.
She also made her debut with the Conway Dinner Theater in its recent production of The Mousetrap. She and John Nelson played Mollie and Giles Ralston, owners of the inn.
Booker said she was unfamiliar with Never Too Late until she auditioned for a part.
“I don’t like my character at all,” she said. “She’s a brat. She’s conniving and spoiled.
“It’s been a challenge for me. I can’t seem to get on the same wavelength with her. But it’s definitely a funny show. There will be laughter from the opening scene.”
Booker is a 2000 graduate of Conway High School and received a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Virginia. She is the communications manager for Soaring Wings Ranch, a Christ-centered home for children located near Holland in Faulkner County.
• Keith Booker of Conway appears as the policeman.
Keith Booker is making his first appearance at the Conway Dinner Theater. He did youth theater in Michigan, as well as some opera at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He is retired from the Army.
He and his wife, Jessica, who appears as Kate in Never Too Late, have a blended family of four children.