If Ernie Banks were an actor, he'd love to be part of the Stages St. Louis company. The great Cubs shortstop would walk into the clubhouse and announce, "It's a beautiful day. Let's play two." Well, that's what a number of performers, both young and older, are doing at Stages–one play in the morning, another at night.
Six of the actors who opened yesterday in the amusing, light-as-cotton-candy "The Aristocats," Stages' annual production for the younger set, also are appearing in "Promises, Promises," where double-dipper Ben Nordstrom is one of the leads. Others appearing both day and night are Kari Ely, Edward Juvier, David Schmittou, Nic Thompson and Borris York. And winning the I'm-a-glutton-for-punishment titles are Ely, Nordstrom, Thompson and York, who play multiple roles in the feline follies with the Disney imprimatur, based on a 40-year-old film.
There's even a story line. Duchess (Pamela Reckamp) and her three kittens are spoiled Parisian house cats, kidnapped and exiled to the countryside by the butler, who hopes to inherit Duchess' money. The rationale for a cat having a checkbook was lost in movie lore many years ago. Some country cats, led by Schmittou as Thomas O'Malley ("O'Malley the Alley Cat"), come to their aid, rescuing them from some not-so-fierce dogs, though the true hero's mantle is shared by a couple of geese and a mouse named Roquefort, played charmingly by Juvier. The rescue allows a line like "The butler did it," to fit into the script
Stephen Bourneuf directed and choreographed, and John Inchiostro designed a series of attractive animal costumes. But today's little ones are quick to know that their disbelief is too much to be easily suspended. In a q-and-a session after the performance, a small one quickly piped up, "It sounds as though the actors were wearing microphones."
And they were, but nobody seemed to mind. They all were having too much fun.
"The Aristocats," presented by Stages St. Louis at the Robert Reim Theatre, Kirkwood, through Aug. 15
–Joe