‘Sorcerer’ brings magic to New Lyric Theatre

So, friends, you say the K in your 401 now stands for kaput? And you can no longer tell the difference between Tina Fey and that other woman with glasses? You say you want change?

Well, put on your silly shoes and vote with your feet at Piedmont Virginia Community College’s Dickinson Fine and Performing Arts Center, where a little sorcery can change your perspective, at least for a couple of hours.

Yes, it’s time again for the magic of New Lyric Theatre and its once-a-year foray into fun and games with Gilbert and Sullivan.

This year, these seriously silly people bring us “The Sorcerer, or the Elixir of Love,” G&S’s first full-length work.

Happily, the plot makes very little sense. Two well-bred young lovers announce their engagement, then the husband-to-be decides that love is the answer to everything, and engages a sorcerer to create an elixir that will cause everyone in the village to fall in love with the first persons they see, and possibly even pay their sub-prime mortgages. No, wait. That’s another silly story.

First performed in 1877, this was a jab at the British class system. Today, the question might be “Whatever else may happen, do we really want Main Street and Wall Street marrying each other?”

As always, musical director Greg Harris and director Christopher Spangler have assembled a talented cast of singer/actors, musicians and designers.

And though these really are talented people who clearly work hard to pull the complex music and staging off and do the show right, nobody takes anything too seriously.

It’s all just plain well done fun, with a cast that’s drawn from the best of just about every other community theater in the area.

There are no bad performances, and with a cast that includes Doug Schneider, Gary White, Dan Stern, Wendy Novicoff and David Zuby with Nick Heiderstadt in the title role, along with a bunch of other talented folk, there’s nothing but fun to be had watching this show.

And put on your listening ears for some slight changes to the lyrics that might refer to familiar places and people, and keep your eyes open.

One of NLT’s trademarks is small, irreverent stuff that doesn’t bang you over the head with the comedy, but sneaks up on you. Watch, for instance, for two little girls who precede the young heroine. One drops petals in her path as the other glares at her and picks them up. (And the two young girls, Katie and Lauren Waters, do an excellent job, as does their mother, Heather Waters.) Or watch what the young couple does as the sorcerer does his stuff, or for the marking on the barrel of love potion.

For all of the silliness, the show never sacrifices quality. There may be moments that could be a little better, but in the scheme of things they don’t ever hurt the show.

Not only are all of the performances good, but Daniel J. Hager’s set is superb, as are Amy Goffman’s costumes and Tracie Steger Skipper’s lights.

Sort of like the mythical Brigadoon, the very real New Lyric Theatre appears just once a year, seen only briefly until it reappears with equal silliness before once again disappearing into the fog of reality.