BWW Reviews: The Theater Bug takes audiences on a magical tour of EVERTIME

So, this is how it all started: Cori Laemmel, who despite her many flaws (she's too sweet, too talented and too pretty, not to mention that she is, well, just darling) is one of my favorite theatrical types, calls me up and asks me to come see The Most Amazing Anything of Evertime, the new show she wrote and directed for the first, big-scale, open-to-the-public, onstage production of The Theater Bug, her performing arts training program for younger actors.

"I don't really expect you to write a review. But I'd love for you to come see the show, to see my kiddies, to show you this part of my world, plus," she paused, dramatically, as one would expect from an actress of her stature. "There might be a shout-out to you in the script. I can't say what it is, but you might want to come see for yourself and it would mean a lot to the kids if you could come."

Suffice it to say, if my name is uttered onstage anytime, anywhere, I will make every effort to make it there, even when the utterance comes from a child actor (although, in this case, the line was delivered by the lovely and talented Anastasia Teel, one of the most accomplished young actors in Nashville, who will actually be a college sophomore this fall, and by Kelsey Queen, another local favorite who enters college in a couple of weeks).

Cori, of course, is exceedingly self-effacing and modest. Intelligently, she leaves it to old hacks like me to sing her praises and to write loving reviews of her performances, which tend to focus on her versatility and complete devotion to her craft. And, when I write stuff like that, I mean it. Seriously, if I don't mean it, it doesn't make it to the page (or in this case, the screen).

While I'm now attempting to be funny and perhaps too clever by half, Cori Laemmel is a tremendously talented woman and the young people who populate The Most Amazing Anything of Evertime and who take part in The Theater Bug's programs are indeed lucky to have her as their mentor. She is serious and sincere, to be sure, but she possesses a very true heart that ensures her young charges will get the very best she has to offer. And, for that alone, she deserves respect from everyone and praise from theater writers such as I.

Still, seeing a show filled with precocious kids isn't necessarily something I long to see - particularly during a summer filled with such productions, I've steered clear, explaining that "I just don't review kids' shows." (This very non-review proves, of course, that if you want me to come see your kid's show you should probably tell me there's a passing reference to me in the script.) Yet I succumbed to Cori's charm and my own far-too-apparent conceit and went to see the final performance of The Most Amazing Anything of Evertime.

I'm very glad I did. In fact, I will be so bold as to say that The Most Amazing Anything of Evertime is one of the most winning, most endearing original plays to debut in Nashville this year in a theatrical season filled with new and notable works. Color me surprised and thoroughly captivated by Laemmel's script that never once talks down to its younger actors while remaining fresh and contemporary, with just enough bite to please even the most cynical of adults in the audience (okay, I mean me, of course...and the people sitting around me can attest that I laughed out loud a lot during the two acts of sheer escapism being enacted on the Keeton Theatre stage).

Laemmel's script is imaginative and creative, bringing to life a heretofore unknown fantasy world that has been in the playwright's heart and mind since she was a young girl. Prior to curtain, she explained that the inspiration for the play was her childhood friendship with Lana Beardslee, who remains her BFF even today, so it's easy to spot the pair in the characters of Wimsey St. Claire (the aforementioned Teel) and Storey Layton (the lovely Queen) who help to bring this lovely fantasia to life, leading a cast filled with exceptional young actors who are, by turns, as funny, charming and confident as their mentor.

"The Kids" are played by "older" young performers; in addition to Teel and Queen, Quinn Gorte plays nebbishy third grader Nanette (who becomes the star of the fairy tale that Wimsey and Storey create, telling the story of what happens after "once upon a time"); Che Pieper is Satchel Parker, the boy who lives next door to Wimsey; Audrey Smith is Bette Marigold, who describes herself as "elementary school royalty" and does a great cover of pint-sized pageant mogul Eden Woods' "Cutie Patootie" (How embarrassed am I to confess I even know who Eden Wood is? Surprisingly, not very.); Nathan Diller as the Justin Beiber-haired Leo Woods; Elizabeth Cameron as the free-spirited, granola-munching Sunny Meadows (Savanah White is her younger sister, Rain); and the pretty remarkable Markus McClain, he with the burgeoning theatrical resume and shelf full of awards, as Milo Xavier, the eight-year-old superhero who knows kung fu and wears footie pajamas.

Meanwhile, "younger" actors play the adults with verve and spirit, never once stepping over the line to become stereotypically precocious or too cute. Ellie Teel and Jule Voss double in the role of Miss Thistle; Emily Lohora is Principal Kurmudgeon; the quick-witted Charlie Hilly, who has perfect comic timing, is Vice Principal Balding; Ben Bowman is The Librarian; Kenya Clo is Wimsey's mom; Macy Batson and Elysa Matula share the role of Storey's mom; with Lydia Crider as Sunny's mom. Finally, Lilla Galgoczy-Toler takes on the role of Bette's mom in a completely believable performance as the pageant/stage mom you love to hate.

The large cast also includes some notable performances from James Lowe (has their ever been a more adorable field general than he?), Grant Lowe, Kylie Hubbard, Olivia Bowman, Ashley Greene, Rebekah Lohora, Riley Hollingsworth and Ben Bowman as "The Grims," the denizens of Evertime who never, ever rhyme and who seek to upend the promised happy ending of the fairy tale that Wimsey and Storey are writing. They are countered by the Lovlings (the sweet-spirited sprites who will save the day and deliver that happy ending we hope for), played by Timberlake Pieper, Cynthia Lowe, Emily Jo Justian, Nya Bryce, Aussie Greene, Aslan Clo, Keilanie Mazarelli, Jule Voss and Ellie Teel.

While all members of the cast are amazingly self-assured and committed to the task before them, special attention must be paid to the second-generation Nashville actors onstage, who include Elysa Matula (the daughter of Guys and Dolls star and Mas Nashville's Laura and Anthony Matula), Ashley and Aussie Greene (two of Blackbird Theater's managing director Greg Greene's triplets), Timberlake and Che Pieper (their mom is Catherine McTamaney), the adorable Bet Bayer (the daughter of actors Lynda and David Bayer, who plays "Fairy God Kid"), Lilla Galgoczy-Toler (whose dad is Fred Toler) and Markus McClain's mom is Circle Players' Regine McClain.

Among Laemmel's artistic collaborators - a virtual who's who of local theater who so effectively bring her vision to life - on this wonderful gift to Nashville theater are her husband, Tyson Laemmel, assistant director Alwyn Mothershed, music consultant Laura Matula, movement specialist Marin Miller, set designer David Compton, lighting designer Paul Cook, graphic designer Anthony Matula, costume designer Lynda Cameron-Bayer and projection designer Eric Fritch.

Even if I hadn't been mentioned in the script (and I can report that scene changes were handled quietly and swiftly), I would still have loved The Most Amazing Anything of Evertime and like everyone else in the audience I can't wait to visit there again.

The Most Amazing Anything of Evertime. Written and directed by Cori Anne Laemmel. Presented by the Theater Bug at The Larry Keeton Theatre, Donelson. Through August 14. For further details about the company, visit www.thetheaterbug.org.

 

 

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