These leading men seem born for their roles

By BARBARA FREDRICKSEN, Arts & Entertainment
Published September 15, 2007

Ask any community theater casting director the most difficult performer to find for a musical, and nine out of 10 will say it's a man between the ages of 35 and 60 who can sing, act and dance, or at least move well enough to look OK during the dance numbers.

It's especially crucial in a star vehicle, where the show is virtually built around the lead man, as opposed to female-centered shows like Hello, Dolly and Mame, or ensemble shows like Guys and Dolls, South Pacific or A Chorus Line.

Whether by design or by accident, Richey Suncoast Theatre scheduled three male-centered shows in one calendar year, all of them among the toughest in theater.

Incredibly, directors found three different men to play those roles who are as good as, if not better than, any professional or amateur actor who has ever done them: Jim Poe, who played Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof a year ago; Chip Wichmanowski, who was Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man in the spring; and now Paul Gibson, who is the consummate Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha.

All three seem born to do those roles, though I've seen all of them do other characters quite impressively.

Gibson was a terrific George in Stage West Community Playhouse's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? last spring. That's a heavy-duty drama that is almost as rough on the audience as it is on the actor, but Gibson took command of the stage and pulled it off like a pro.

Wichmanowski, who in real life is the executive director of the Pasco Education Foundation, was the most charming Professor Hill I've ever seen (including the movie), right down to the little self-satisfied skip-step he would do each time he exited after putting one over on the unsuspecting Marian the Librarian.

And Poe, with his twinkling eyes, expressive face and beautifully pulled-in physical gestures, became the quintessential Tevye.

To put icing on the cake, all three shows had terrific orchestras to accompany these fine performers:Music Man led by Stella Gaukhshteyn and Fiddler and La Mancha led by Joan Geschke.

Any one of those orchestras could do a successful concert on its own.

My one disappointment with La Mancha was that actor Peter Clapsis, who was originally cast to play Don Quixote's sidekick Sancho, dropped out shortly into rehearsals. I was really looking forward to seeing him do the part.

Clapsis, a HAMI Award winner for Stage West Community Playhouse, is one of the most talented performers and directors in the entire Tampa Bay area.

He was a wonderful Pseudolus in Stage West's production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum last season -- so good, in fact, that he went a long way to overcome the handicap imposed by weak musical accompaniment.

His shining moment, though, came early in the season, when he did a terrific job directing Guys and Dolls, then had to step into a challenging role on the second night of the show when an actor fell dead on stage midway through opening night. He handled both the onstage tragedy and the second night performance with grace and dignity.

Clapsis told me that he really wanted to play Sancho, but the demands of an unexpected job promotion and the bustle of getting his daughter settled into an apartment and job after she graduated from college kept him from putting his all into La Mancha rehearsals, so he opted out early to give someone else a chance.

Richey Suncoast newcomer Chris Carmichael gamely stepped in at the last moment and seems to be giving it his all.

Happy to say, Clapsis isn't out of local theater for good. He's landed the plum role of Fagin in Stage West's production of Oliver! (Nov. 1 to 18), and I can't wait to see what he does with it.

Establishing atmosphere

Richey Suncoast is about 75 percent of the way through a major renovation of the auditorium, including total electrical rewiring, installation of a sprinkler system, and new walls, seats, carpeting, ceiling lights, chandeliers, stair lighting, ceiling and floor.

The behind-the-walls stuff is just about done, but the more obvious decor, including the upholstered walls, won't be completed until at least the end of the year.

The bare look of the auditorium prompted board president and set designer Charlie Skelton to joke before a recent performance of Man of La Mancha that the look is appropriate. After all, he said, the play takes place in a dungeon, and the theater's scraggly walls resemble a jail.

[Last modified September 14, 2007, 20:20:56]