There’s no whitewashing a classic

It takes a special skill to get your friends to do your work for you … and to pay you for the privilege of doing that work.

Tom Sawyer has it in Mark Twain’s classic tale. And Logan Dudley has it in Four County Players’ latest production.

“Dudley is Tom,” said Pam Edelman, Four County’s new theater manager. “He is a local boy from Greene County and this is his first show at Four County.”

He stepped in to take the lead role in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” but he didn’t come in alone.

“Our director teaches at the middle school, and several of her students came over from Greene County with her. Many are participants for the first time to Four County.”

All told, the main stage is brimming with a 32-member cast. It has a decidedly youthful look. With only eight adult roles, “Tom” is the start of something new at Four County. “There are 24 children in the cast, and that is one of the reasons we chose to do this show,” Edelman said. “We would like to produce an all-children’s show every summer, and ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’ gets us started in that direction.

The Broadway adaptation of Mark Twain’s classic tale stays true to the story of a 14-year-old boy growing up on the banks of the Mississippi River in 1840.

“It was a musical that ran on Broadway for two weeks,” Edelman said. “So we are running it here.”

Logan plays the mischievous Tom, who matches wits with his stern Aunt Polly (Kristen Franklin), falls in love with feisty Becky Thatcher (Victoria Edelman) and goes on the adventure with that irresistible renegade, Huckleberry Finn (Anna Grey Hogan).

Along the way the kids meet a terrifying villain named Injun Joe (Marc Bergin), but Edelman said that any violence in the show has been played lightly, making “Tom” suitable for the entire family.

“It is good on all age levels,” she said.

She says it really is a family production.

“We have six members from one family, three from another, a couple of brothers and a mother and daughter,” Edelman said.

A little prodding reveled that the Edelman clan is the family of six. Pam served as the producer, while her husband is music director and plays the piano in the five-member house band.

Their oldest plays one of the adults, daughter Victoria stars as Becky, their son runs the light board and the 5-year-old walks on as an extra. “We all found our own niches,” she said with a laugh.

But while this production of “Tom Sawyer” brings families together on the stage, it also has brought Mark Twain’s written word back to the forefront.

“Our weekday matinees were really geared for local day camps,” Edelman said. “A lot of the local day-care centers were reading the book, and then coming to see the musical.

“We were really happy to get people more interested in reading again.”

And, of course, learning the art of convincing your friends how to whitewash a fence.

The Four County cast includes longtime Four County veteran Nick Heiderstadt as Judge Thacker, plus April Berteax as Widow Douglas and Christian Payne as Reverend Sprague.

The adult players feature Whit Brinkley, Ricci Deloriea, Elizabeth Edelman, Xaq Hirtz, Lucas Marsh, Katie Marshall, Heather Parkinson, Lizzie Richardson and Paul Risk.

The children’s ensemble includes Riley Cummings, Jacob Deloriea, Ashley Goodwin, Christina Havrila, James Kochka, Issie Marsh, Emily Mawyer, Hannah Mawyer, Jaimie Parkinson, Samantha Lynn Reid, William Risk and Kaitlin Roelofs.

This weekend winds up the first production of 4CP’s 37th season. “Othello” opens in October, followed by “A Christmas Story,” “Cabaret” and “Sylvia.”

details

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”

Four County Players

8 tonight, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday; tonight’s show is sold out

Barboursville Community Theater

$15; $12 seniors and students; $10 chidlren 12 and younger

http://www.fourcp.org

(540) 832-5355