The Keegan Theatre's production of the musical "Violet," tells the sappy and sentimental tale of a disfigured young woman who travels by bus in 1964 from her North Carolina farm to seek a miracle from a smarmy televangelist in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
If you are expecting a traditional musical, with flashy production numbers, catchy choreography, and memorable music, you will be sorely disappointed. Many of the numbers take place on the Greyhound bus that Violet rides in her doomed journey, and therefore the audience is made to suffer through a series of numbers rendered by seated performers. After every number, the audience is forced to watch the actors pick up their wooden chairs (that do not resemble any bus seats I have ever seen) and drag them off stage in an extremely cumbersome and annoying display.
Director Amy McWilliams has achieved the impossible with this production. She has managed to make several highly capable and talented performers render mediocre, flat and wholly unbelievable characterizations. Deanna Harris, who was absolutely magnificent in her portrayal of the young stripper Gypsy Rose Lee in Signature Theatre's Gypsy, and who was recently nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for that performance, here flounders on stage as Violet without any cohesive direction, and a trailer park trash Southern accent to boot. Although the script is preachy and predictable, the blame for much of the show's failure falls on McWilliams' haphazard approach.
Steven Claiborne and Trenton Wagler as the soldiers are clearly out of their league and have the unfortunate luck to appear in an extremely overly-choreographed and fakey fight scene. The supposedly tender and touching scenes between the father, played by Jimmy Payne, and young Violet are stilted and awkward, primarily because Payne is a painfully inept actor.
A few performers in small roles represent a ray of light in an otherwise gloomy affair. Versatile Michael John Casey appears in several cameo roles, and always brings realism and humor to his parts. Veteran cabaret performer Sharon Ellzey makes a big impression in several small roles, including a busybody Old Lady on the bus who takes Violet under her wing. Julie Schroll as the 14-year-old Violet renders an affecting and understated portrayal, although her singing voice is often overshadowed by the excessively loud orchestra.
The set by Eric Grims is constructed of three different platforms on different levels, and is amazingly versatile and inventive. Lighting designer Dan Martin seems to have become enchanted with the special effect of tree branches projected as shadows because he uses it for every scene that occurs on the top platform, even when the scene is supposed to take place inside an attic. The hotel music scene is inexplicably over-miked, which makes the singers sound like they are performing in a sports stadium, with a loud and annoying electric guitar accompaniment that will set your teeth on edge.
As one of the characters says, "things are mean and ugly in this world," and he could just as well have been talking about this show. No wonder the premiere production of this musical was yanked after a brief New York run in 1997. If I were you, I would skip this long and tedious bus trip. You would be better advised to hitchhike to another show.