Morality Play: Vagabond Players' THE DRUNKARD

Prior to curtain at The Vagabond Players' production of "The Drunkard," Vag Board of Governors President Ann Mainolfi addressed the audience, providing some interesting exposition. The evening's performance would be in memory of the late John Bruce Johnson, long-time actor, director and supporter of The Vagabond, having found the theater's current home on South Broadway in Baltimore's Fells Point.

Dubbed "Mr. Theater," Johnson (who also founded the Baltimore Playwrights Festival in 1981), played the lead in "The Drunkard" for eight years. The original play, entitled "The Gentleman," was written in the 1890s by one W. H. Smith, and was "archaic," but the current Brian J. Burton adaptation "was poetry. Reading it, we laughed, we cried, and had a helluva good time," Mainolfi said.

Mainolfi's description was prophetic, as the Vag Players did Mr. Johnson proud in the 2-plus hour mix of comedy, tragedy, and ultimately, redemption.

While flush with characters and details, the story of "The Drunkard" is simple. A young man, Edward Middleton (Andrew Macomber II) marries, starts to raise a family, but is undone by drink, thanks to the evil machinations of Squire Cribbs (Michael Panzarotto). Will Edward be restored as a contributing member of society, back to the loving arms of his family?

Akin to a Shakespeare comedy, the play's heroes run afoul of villains' schemes, but find they have allies to help them achieve a happy ending.

While Macomber's Middleton is clearly the play's protagonist, it is Panzarotto who steals the show, and is the last actor to appear on stage for the company's final bows (and the audience's loudest cheers), an honor usually bestowed to the lead. Panzarotto's Cribbs is reminiscent of Richard III (Shakespeare's line, "Beware yon dog-when he fawns, he bites!", fits Cribbs perfectly), Simon Legree (complete with black cape, walking stick and a backhand for any distressed damsels who cross his path), Scrooge (with a penchant for dispatching sweet innocents to "workhouses"), and in this reviewer's opinion, especially the late Golden Age of Television actor Jonathan Harris, best known as "Lost In Space"'s Dr. Smith, with his delicate mannerisms, sly eyes and the "oh the pain, the terrible pain" lilt in his voice. The combination makes for a delightful scoundrel who clearly was the audience's favorite.

The rest of the cast performs well, especially Ryan Mitchell as the rough-around-the-edges William Dowton, Edward Middleton's foster brother who, though considered by the village as somewhat slow is actually the town's sage and moral center. Mary Hanson channels a bit of Shakespeare herself as her Agnes Dowton plays a bit like Hamlet's Ophelia, a barefoot waif driven mad by the death of her betrothed. Will she, like Edward, find her way back to sanity and salvation?

Carol Conley Evans earned many deserved laughs for her comic portrayal of the Bard-spouting Sophia Spindle, a faded flower who perceives herself to be a vibrant rose in bloom when she's more a wilted dandelion.

While Hillary Mazar (Mrs. Wilson) trips over some of her lines in the play's opening act, seeming to recite her part rather than truly acting, the company as a whole does an exemplary job with a script that often does flow like poetry. "A vase may break but the scent of the roses clings still," Miss Spindle remarks.

Don't expect gritty realism from this morality play about the evils of alcohol. Only in the Bizarro World do couples agree to marry within two minutes of being introduced, where rich benefactors suddenly appear to help wayward souls and a few drinks hurl a sober man into "the abyss of dypsomania." The play's heavy-handed message amuses, but not in a mocking way. There's an innocence about "The Drunkard" that keeps the play from becoming trite. When evil is ultimately undone and the power of good shines in the smiling faces of all on stage by play's end, the result is not corny, but delightful.

"The Drunkard" continues its run at The Vagabond Players theater at 806 South Broadway through June 28^th. Call 410-563-9135 or visit www.vagabondplayers.org.

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