New production completes triple play

Attending the Wilson Playhouse's production of "Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming" provided a delightful topping for the weekend and also brought back memories of earlier Playhouse productions of the "Smoke on the Mountain" series of musical comedies. The series of country-music comedies by Connie Ray and Mike Craver has been a delightful triple-play for Playhouse and three of its most successful productions.

The first play, "Smoke on the Mountain," had to be staged in the former Tucker Furniture building in the 1990s because the Boykin Center was under repair (because The Wilson Daily Times' archive search on its Web site does not return any articles before this year, I can't find the date for this or other performances). Despite the inadequacies (including bleacher seating) of the Tucker Furniture venue, Playhouse performers managed to make the jerry-rigged site work. A terrific and talented cast of young singers made this one of the most memorable plays the amateur group ever staged.

When Playhouse returned with a sequel, "Sanders Family Christmas," a few years later (again, I'm unable to provide dates), I was eager to see the characters and hear the songs again. By coincidence, my parents were visiting us that week, and I was able to take them to the play. It was probably the first play, except for school productions, they had ever attended, and my father seemed uncertain whether he should laugh out loud at some of the comic lines. Jokes about rural Baptist churches (which he attended all his life) might have hit too close to home. But my parents, on their last visit to Wilson, really enjoyed the play, even if they didn't develop any sense of the humor in over-the-top religiosity.

One of the gags in all three plays is the horrendously bad choir at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church. The choir is off-key, off-beat, off-tune, and just off-ful! It was an exaggerated version of the rural Baptist choir I heard as a child. Maybe that's why my dad wasn't sure whether to laugh. The choir in the current "Homecoming" production takes awful to new heights and is the funniest yet.

One of the strengths of these three plays is the consistent central cast. Although a number of cast members changed over the years, four actors kept their roles through all three plays. Jeff and Kathy Creech played Burl and Vera Sanders, and Wayne Holland was the Rev. Mervin Oglethorpe in all three plays. The Creeches' fine voices seem tailor-made for the country music, and Holland captured the slightly shady preacher character from his first cue in the original play. Ted Brna also held onto his role as Stanly Sanders, and his melodic voice and exceptional guitar playing provided some of the best music of all three plays. These four give this series a consistency and professionalism that is rare in amateur productions.

The Creeches seemed to grow in their roles with each play, slipping easily into the personas of the itinerant, scripture-citing and -quoting gospel singers with their three children. Holland began the three plays with Reverend Oglethorpe's lascivious eye on and his shiny gold tooth twinkling at June, the oldest Sanders daughter. By the "Homecoming," the reverend and the teenager have married, and they're striking out for a new church in Texas, leaving Mount Pleasant Baptist to Dennis Sanders, ("one of the twins" played by George Fletcher Duke II), who is back from the war and called to preach.

In the current production (which continues through this weekend), Angela Hutchins as June and Ashley Stith as Denise (the "other twin") lend their excellent singing voices to the play. The songs are nicely staged by director Becky Vanden Bosch, and all the actors sing well.

One can quibble that the script for "Homecoming" does not provide quite the comic energy and profound insight that the first two plays did, but it's still an enjoyable production and one that should not be missed by anyone who enjoyed the earlier plays. "Homecoming" seems to have been written to provide "closure" for audiences left hanging by "Sanders Family Christmas," which ended with Dennis headed off to war. It lacks some of the punch and character development of the earlier plays but retains the essential elements that made the earlier plays so successful.

"Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming" proves the value and exceptional quality of Wilson Playhouse productions. Fans who enjoyed the earlier two plays (and anyone who saw them had to enjoy them) will not want to miss this final episode.