Warner Crocker: 2008-2009

At some point in early 2009, there must have been some confusion regarding two Middletown landmarks.  One was that Wayside Theatre was performing in Front Royal due to renovations at the Middletown location.  The other was the rumor that the Wayside Inn was to be put up for auction.  To help quell the confusion, Warner Crocker wrote a letter to the Editor of the Northern Virginia Daily in which he stated,

While the future of the Wayside Inn is now being decided by the Bernstein family,
the Wayside Theatre is not a part of that process and is not up for sale and will
remain unaffected by whatever decisions are made regarding the Wayside Inn. 
The two entities have been completely separate since 1965 when Leo Bernstein
turned over control of the Wayside Theatre to a not-for-profit board of directors,
who formed the Wayside Foundation for the Arts to operate the Theater.

Crocker concludes,
Wayside Theatre will continue to seek the support of those interested in seeing
live professional theater in our region and that endeavor is even more important
in this challenging economic climate when we see many not-for-profit theaters
forced to shut their doors (Crocker. Letter.  NVD.  5 Mar. 2009).

By mid-May, there were articles in the local press announcing the return of Wayside to its Middletown home coupled with a status report of the renovation.  The opening show of the 2008/2009 season was Always Patsy Cline.  Along with the Cline presentation, at the Theatre there was a notice of an April 4, 2008 event, hosted by The Virginia Historical Society in Richmond, where Patsy Cline was to be the subject.  At this meeting, Dr. Warren Hofstra, Professor of History at Shenandoah University, led a symposium, “Sweet Dreams:  The Life and Times of Patsy Cline.” This event, along with the title of the opening show of Wayside’s 2008/2009 season, served to highlight the re-opening of the Middletown space and the new season.   

Despite some final remodeling confusion and the day and a half delay of the delivery of the new theatre seats, the 2008/2009 season opened with Always Patsy Cline.  Patrons were glad to see another Patsy Cline production even though they could not see all the structural changes made during the renovation.  They were delighted with the comfort of the new seats as well as the additional restroom space for women. Scheduling a Patsy Cline show was the perfect choice for the re-opening of the Theatre.   

Always Patsy Cline was an enjoyable musical evening featuring two actresses, an excellent band, great set and costumes.  One critic felt the wigs made the actresses look like they were having a bad hair day and did not live up to the rest of the production (Lowe. “Nothing but sweet ….” TWS.  17 July 2008). Others felt the show did not live up to the previous Cline production. The fault seemed to be not so much with the actors and the music, but with the script which, “when the music stops is not nearly as compelling as A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, which Wayside presented four years ago” (Horan.  “ ‘Patsy’ features ….”  NVD.  17 July 2008).  While the actress playing Patsy did not look like the singer, she had pretty much perfected the vocal style.  Seger, the name of Patsy’s friend, is written as being much too “chirpy and energetic, despite talking about the woes of bad husbands and motherhood worries,” forcing the actresses’s “propensity to yap, dance, swoon and swing her hips while Cline belts ballads is an annoyance [despite being] the basis of the storyline” (Jacob. “Patsy’s story is ….” The Free Land Star.  24 July 2008).  Pointing to a few other items, all the reviewers agreed it was a great choice to re-open the Theatre!

While the Patsy Cline show was being seen in Middletown, Wayside was presenting Moonlight and Magnolias in the Glaize black-box space on the campus of Shenandoah University.  By using this space, Wayside could claim that this was the second time the Theatre had two shows performing simultaneously.  The premise for this show was that three writers, locked in a room for five days, existing on peanuts and bananas were re-writing the script of the film Gone with the Wind that had been shut down by film maker, David O Selznick.  The paper on the floor gets deeper as do the peanut shells and banana peels, while the writers go through reams of paper.  One reviewer states, “Not only do the actors manipulate their lines in the play as well as the physical jostling and exaggerated moves, but they also convey a sense of responsibility to the mission” (Lowe.  “Powerful acting ….”  TWS.  14 Aug. 2008).  Horan concurs stating, “Although the playwright captures the tension and frustration of the creative process, Moonlight and Magnolias is comedy on steroids.  Director Warner Crocker has the cast operating at peak intensity” (Horan.  “Wayside’s ‘Moonlight’ is ….”  NVD.  14 Aug. 2008).

Farce was the next item on the season’s schedule.  For Unnecessary Farce, the set consisted of two adjoining motel room with eight doors. “The play starts conventionally—two cops and a comely accountant in adjoining hotel rooms trying to trap the mayor in a sting over missing town funds” sounds innocent enough, but “the plot veers into quirky directions ….” Horan praises the pace and direction, stating, “Although the program lists no choreographer, the sterling cast fluidly and flawlessly execute their intricate paces and the physical comedy” (Horan. “ ‘Unnecessary Farce' is ….”  NVD.  11 Sept. 2008).  The cast is credited for its ability “to make difficult things look easy, and the crucial timing … the rapid-fire dialogue flows in overlapping and dovetailed conversations, points and counterpoints, without missing a beat” (Lawrence.  “Play the farce ….”  CSE.  19 Sept. 2008).  On a personal note, this writer can attest that the performances were a comedic delight and was one of the most enjoyable stage events he ever participated in!!

Mystery on a more sane and dignified scale appeared in the next production, Agatha Christie’s, The Mousetrap. T he set was a beautiful Victorian sitting room that included “hints of snowflakes beyond the windows.” All this added to a well-directed, solidly performed evening, despite having no Miss Marple or Poirot to solve the mystery.  One reviewer reveals the provenance of the work from “a short radio play that became a short story before stretched into a two-act stage play” (Horan. “ ‘The Mousetrap’ endures ….”  NVD.  16 Oct. 2008).  Another critic concludes, “It’s a great evening of entertainment with superb acting, keeping the audience guessing and moving from one character to the other as the major suspect.  It’s a true classic …” (Lowe.  Action minimal, ….”  TWS.  17 Oct. 2008).

Wayside’s normally quite busy Box office fell quiet during rehearsals for the Christmas show as the telephones stopped ringing.  It was like Sept. 11, 2001,” said Wayside’s artistic director. “I was not anticipating a good fundraising season,” especially within non-profit organizations during this economic downturn.  Wayside had hoped that, after being away from Middletown for a year, their return would be a boost to ticket sales.  Unfortunately, the nation’s economy also affected the theatre’s income. “The holiday production usually brings in 35 percent of the $480,000 raised from ticket sales for the year” (Lowe.  “Stage fright?”  26 Nov. 2008).  That was not the case in 2008.

Despite the financial slump, the musical version of A Christmas Carol, opened on schedule in December. Much of the music had been rewritten in what was basically the same show that had been staged previously. There were some changes: a slightly different set and blocking where “cast members occasionally form themselves into office furniture and various set decorations.”  And, in what had become a tradition, this holiday show was also double cast. “The depth of Wayside’s talent means that regardless of when you catch a show, the quality of the performance should not be in doubt” (Sackrider.  “Musical Carol  ….”  PG.  19 Dec. 2008).  Despite finding some flaws in the production, another writer concluded, “The one thing that remains is a performance that was magical with the strength of the strong players working to the weaker players’ advantage.  Crocker brought a holiday classic to life ….” (Moeslein.  “Wayside Presents ‘A Christmas ….’ ”  TWaS.  11 Dec. 2008).

What was scheduled to next appear on Wayside’s stage did not take place and what did appear had never appeared on stage before!  The saga regarding the next production is most interesting.  The Theatre began a discussion in November “on the best way to cut costs with personnel already down to a minimum.” By December, “the decision was made to scrap the scheduled production of Lies and Legends, the Songs and Stories of Harry Chapin to save thousands in royalty fees” (Williams. “Art imitates life ….” NVD.  22 Jan. 2008).  Instead, Warner Crocker and Steve Przybylski came up with an idea, selected 30 folk and country songs in public domain (therefore requiring no payment of royalties), and created Southern Crossroads, within the space of three weeks!!  The music was performed in a variety of styles - - sometimes solo, sometimes ensemble.  The story tells of a family of Virginia musicians who find the theater where they are supposed to perform shuttered by foreclosure and they have no money to return home.  How they deal with the situation, find a solution, and succeed is told through dialog and music.  One of the highlights of the evening was the piano virtuosity of David Maga playing Joplin’s ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ and other stride-piano selections.  The production was successful and raised some much-needed money for the Theatre.  One reviewer concludes, “the acting is superb and adds to the excellent delivery of the musical selections” (Lowe. “Original play ….” TWS. 6 Feb. 2009). 

Two years later, Southern Crossroads would appear on the stage of Totem Pole Theatre in Pennsylvania, August 9 – 21, 2011.  This most likely came about through Ray Ficca, Totem Pole’s artistic director, who had appeared in several Wayside productions and learned of the show. One newspaper article states that “it is the first time that the production which premiered at Wayside has played at another theater” (Mangino.  “Wayside musical opens ….”  TWS.  22 July 2011).  However, it is not the first time that a Wayside production has appeared in other locations. Previously, productions had been transferred almost overnight from Wayside to the Arden Theatre, and other locations, complete with costumes, set, and cast making the move.

The season closed with a repeat of Cotton Patch Gospel which had first been seen at Wayside during the 2003 season.  Ray Ficca reprised his role as Jesus along with some of the musicians who had also participated in the previous production.  It was noted that this year’s production fell during the season of Lent, and Crocker states, “It’s a great reminder of what we all are celebrating this time of year” (Austin.  “Jesus and bluegrass.”  NVD.  12 Mar. 2009). Since all the dialog and some of the singing falls on Ficca’s shoulders, he states that he “begins preparing about a month before rehearsals, both mentally and physically, including walking four miles a day. The production is extremely physical and with multiple characters to portray … he has to stay on his mark to keep the action moving forward” (Austin.  12 Mar. 2009).  It appears from the reviews that this second viewing were as popular as it had been when it was first seen at Wayside.  After praising the performance, one reviewer cautioned, that while this show is very entertaining, “the enjoyment and appreciation of what are genuinely top-notch performances still hinge on the personal attitudes brought by the viewer” (Lawrence.  “Jesus was a good ….” 26 Mar, 2009). 

The return to Middletown after the year in Front Royal, while greatly anticipated, was marred by the Theatre’s continuing financial issues.  The theatre survived the 2008/2009 season and, with fingers crossed, was planning on moving forward.