The Imaginary Theatre Company is not a figment of anyone's imagination, not even the vibrant one belonging to Steve Woolf. It's a real theater company that lives and works at the rep, taking productions aimed at young audiences to school groups and such around the area, entertaining and teaching and, we all hope, creating a permanent love of theater inside everyone.
Every now and then, ITC shows off to the public with short runs, and right now, a charming, bright production of "The Elves and the Shoemaker," is on stage at the Heagney Theatre of Nerinx Hall High school. Unfortunately, only three performances remain — one Thursday morning and two on Friday, and the Rep's web site reports them as "sold out."
Adapted from one of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm by Sarah Brandt, with Neal Richardson, the musical director, adding some pleasant music and lyrics, the story has been updated a little, and the four-person cast, directed by Bruce Longworth, displays considerable skill. The actors wove a spell that enchanted a theater filled with small people for its entire 55-minute running time.
Jerome Lowe is the Shoemaker, Lakeetha Blakeney is his wife, and the talented couple of Alan Knoll and his off-stage wife, Laurie McConnell, do everything else, from royalty to beggary to a display of elfin skills. They also show the ability and agility to handle quick changes as they bolt through a series of Dorothy Marshall Englis' bright and evocative costumes.
In truth, Lowe is not a talented shoemaker. It's almost as if he began as a hat- or wig-maker, failed badly and let the force of gravity take over as he continued to seek a career in fashion design. He now has reached bottom with a pair of green shoes. Trying to sell them in the town square, he's a total failure, but he's a kind and generous guy, and when he meets a poor beggar (McConnell), he gives them to her.
When he returns home, Mrs. Shoemaker is not amused, which is not surprising, because while a soft answer may turn away wrath, a empty stomach does not. But while they sleep, the Elves arrive and begin to turn things around for the Shoemaker. Knoll and McConnell, with a variety of accents and dance steps, move from role to role — Knoll's attempt at re-creating Dame Edna Everage is a high spot — and as hard as it may be to believe, everyone's a winner before the final curtain.
Lowe presents delightfully befuddled innocence, and while Blakeney shows the anger of hunger from time to time, she's a loyal wife. Knoll, who has brightened local stages for close to a decade, always has shown fine comic timing, and McConnell makes an excellent stage partner. Ellen Isom's pleasing choreography, is nicely entertaining and Scott Loebl's set works well.
Best of all, Longworth and the actors approach the material, and their audience, with an impressive lack of condescension.
The Imaginary Theatre Company presents "The Elves and the Shoemaker" at the Heagney Theatre Thursday (Dec. 22) and Friday (Dec. 23)
—Joe