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Smoke on the Mountain
Written by Connie Ray
Conceived by Alan Bailey
Directed by Tim Gregory
Musical Director Michael Mahler
Produced by Provision Theater
At the Viaduct Theatre
3111 N. Western Avenue
Chicago, IL
Call773-506-4429, tickets $20 - $25
Thursdays thru Saturdays at 8 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 10 minutes with intermission
Through June 8, 2008
“God scratches where the world itches.” –Reverend Oglethorpe
Spirited and toe-tapping bluegrass gospel quite entertaining
Smoke on the Mountain, first produced in 1988, has become a stable of rural American regional theatre. Kudos to Provision Theater for mounting this musically satisfying glimpse back into an innocent time in rural America when many folks lived close to their religious beliefs and celebrated with it with blueglass gospel music. Filled with many styles of music ranging from toe-tapping acoustic bluegrass to plaintive hymns and praise-the-lord songs, Smoke on the Mountain is a enjoyable musical treat.
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Smoke on the Mountain is the story of the 1938 North Carolina Mount Pleasant Church’s first Saturday night ”sing.” Reverend Mervin Ogethorpe (Alex Goodrich, a traffic banjo player) has invited the “Singing Sanders’ family to lead the church’s first ‘sing.’ Burl Sanders (Richard Marlatt) and wife Vera Sanders (Susan Moniz) together with Burl’s brother Stanley (Jeff Harms) and their children June (Amber Burgess), Denise (Christine Barnes) and her twin Dennis (Shaun Whitley) form a gospel bluegrass band. The Sanders’ family play guitar, fiddle, bass, mandolin and piano. The have nice voices too. They mix their wide range of white gospel tunes with down-home personal antidotes and religious ‘testimonies.’ These sentimentally sweet stories are humorous adding a spiritual revival element to the show. The musicianship here is first class.
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The cast have a blend of fine voices (Susan Moniz and Richard Marlatt are terrific), offering truthful performances, especially from Shaun Whitley and Christine Barnes as the teen twins smitten with the spirit of the Lord. I enjoyed the rich harmonies and the nice mixture of bluegrass and gospel tunes. The stories give a glimpse of the Fundamental religious influence of Christianity. These rural folks’ lives are centered on their religion. Their faith explodes through their music and their general store and auto garage in rural North Carlonia.
This fun show contains a tad too much preaching for my heathen mentality but the terrific old-time bluegrass music carried the show for me. Modern audiences see how the strong religious influence ruled these folk’s lives. It almost plays as cautionary tale warning about the fanatical influence of the religious right. This spirited show will get your toes tapping and your hands clapping—what’s wrong with that?
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: May 11, 2008
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