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The Observer, March 26, 2004 UntitledBy Joel SandersonIf you did not go watch Footlighters perform Where’s Charley on March 18 and 19, you missed out. The musical was hilarious and fun to watch. The play chronicles the problems friends Jack and Charley have trying to marry their loves. Jack and Charley played well off each other and, in fact, the whole cast worked very well together on stage. These two Oxford students in the late 19th century are in love with two beautiful girls who stand to receive a huge inheritance. However, the man in charge of the inheritance, Mr. Spettigue, must approve of the suitors, and he does not like Jack and Charley. Since he does not want the girls to be with Jack and Charley, the two men try to find someone else to chaperone a get together. This causes more problems when the girls arrive and Charley’s aunt, who is supposed to chaperone, is nowhere to be found. Charley ends up dressed like a woman and the rest of the play chronicles the successes and blunders that follow these men as they try to marry the women of their dreams. Charley was played by Sean Wedig, a senior computer science major at Case who somehow found time to perform with Footlighters eight times throughout college, even working as an assistant stage manager once. His role as Charley required him to dress up as a woman, but not for the first time in his Footlighters career. In one of his first roles, Sean played one of the Kit Kat girls in Cabaret. Along with Cabaret, Sean ranked Where’s Charley very high on his list of favorite Footlighters plays. He enjoyed it for some of the same reasons I did: the humor surrounding every scene and the skilled and impressive lead roles. What Wedig touted as his favorite part of the play was actually one of the funniest bits. At one point Jack is bending Charley (in drag) over a table and, well, get the mental image. For Sean this scene was especially exciting because the actor playing Jack was switched just three weeks before the show so in order to keep this particular scene from seeming contrived, Sean was bent over a table in his estimation “once a minute for about half an hour.” Now that would be a funny play. That’s not to say this was not a funny play. The physical comedy was really what made this play stand out. Not only was Sean bent over a table by Jack, he also pretended to know how to dance while singing “Once in Love with Amy.” One of the best parts of the show was that throughout one scene Mr. Spettigue chased Charley in drag with flowers and a creepy stalker look on his face. The song numbers were also humorous because not only were the lyrics funny, but the actions during the songs were fairly ridiculous at times too. The performers all obviously have talent because the songs were not only funny, but well done too. It would not be much of a musical without good songs and this was a good musical. Jared Sampson played Jack Chesney, Charley’s cohort and accomplice in their attempt to fool everyone. Christine Chambers and Kim Sullivan were great as Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue, the love interests and causes of many problems. The girls’ mean keeper, Mr. Spettigue, was aptly pompous with Matt Hathorn in character. Their maid Brassette was played by Bria Du Pont and Sakura Huey was the real aunt, Donna Lucia D'alvadorez. Dave Jordan was Jack’s down-on-his-luck father, Sir Francis Chesney. All of these actors really seemed to mesh well with one another, and the accompanying music complemented the performance. Where’s Charley was a fitting send-off for the humorous Wedig, who has been active in Footlighters throughout his entire time at Case. The Foolighters group, which brings student-run musicals to campus every fall and spring, has recently performed Grand Hotel and Little Shop of Horrors. For more information visit foolighters.cwru.edu |