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Setting marriage to music
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN, Times Staff Writer Once you get past admiring the finely detailed costumes on loan from Broadway stars Peter Palmer and Aniko Farrell and the trompe l'oeil sets painted by the European-trained painter Marc De Waele, you can settle in and enjoy I Do! I Do!, opening Thursday for a three-weekend run at Richey Suncoast Theatre. Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones' musical covers 50 years in the marriage of Agnes and Michael: from their wedding day to the day they move out of their house. It takes us through their first child, their quarrels and near breakups, their "empty nest" time and other familiar trials and tribulations of a long-married pair. "This is a funny play that everyone can enjoy," said Charlie Skelton, director of the show. The songs reflect the story line: I Love My Wife, My Cup Runneth Over, Nobody's Perfect, The Honeymoon Is Over, When the Kids Get Married and Someone Needs Me. I Do! I Do! was Broadway's first two-person show, but even so, it ran for 560 performances, well over a year. The original starred two titans of the theater: Robert Preston and Mary Martin, who were later replaced by Carol Lawrence and Gordon MacRae. Director Skelton chose stage veterans Nancy Scott and Bill Sutschek to play the married couple at Richey Suncoast. Both were seen in last season's hit, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Sutschek played the conniving slave Pseudolus, and Ms. Scott played Domina, the domineering wife of Pseudolus' owner. Ms. Scott has performed with the professional troupe S.L.T. Productions, playing Rosie in Bye, Bye, Birdie and Tuptim in The King and I. She won a Lary Award for her portrayal of Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady at the Francis Wilson Playhouse and was nominated for her roles in Merry Widow, Desert Song and The Music Man. Ms. Scott is a speech therapist in Tampa. Sutschek will be wearing costumes on loan from the professional Broadway actor who piqued his interest in theater at the age of 11. "I heard Peter Palmer singing L'il Abner and decided right then I wanted to be an actor someday," Sutschek said. Palmer is letting the theater use the costumes he and his wife, Ms. Farrell, wore when they were in the Broadway national tour of I Do! I Do! for five years. The actors will be accompanied by a four-piece orchestra led by music director Stella Gaukshyten. At a glance WHAT: I Do! I Do!WHERE: Richey Suncoast Theatre, 6237 Grand Blvd., New Port Richey WHEN: Thursday and weekends March 1-17. Shows at 8 p.m., except Sundays at 2:30 p.m. TICKETS: $12, reserved seating. Box office open 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Wed.-Sat. and an hour before each show. Call (727) 842-6777.
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