Sunday, January 11, 1998

Quest for power, wealth drives 'The Little Foxes'

By LAURA STEWART
NEWS-JOURNAL FINE ARTS WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — The stage was spare and dark. But it wasn't anywhere near as stark as the drama that unfolded as Seaside Music Theater rehearsed the first act of "The Little Foxes," the play that opens Friday and continues through Jan. 25. Even without the elaborate sets and costumes that were still under construction, even as the cast honed their sharp characters, the emotions swirling through the Lillian Hellman classic churned to the surface.

Birdy (Barbara Bradshaw) twittered around her abusive husband, Oscar Hubbard (Gordon McConnell). Callously brushing her aside, his brother Ben (Lester Malizia) and sister Regina (Josephine Hall, in the role Bette Davis made famous in the 1941 film), schemed about the millions they were planning to gain. Of course, their plan involved a certain amount of duplicity -- no real problem for a clan that by 1900 had risen from the ashes of the ruined South on the backs of its whipped aristocracy. Regina is a polished belle, with wiles that would make Scarlett cringe; Birdy is a cringing shadow.

Already, although the set that soon will fill the stage at Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center with Victorian excess could only be imagined, the play's dynamics were evident. Addie (Dorothy J. Morrison), the maid, moved across the black stage area, which was taped to show where doors would be and furnished only with random chairs and tables, to serve port after a falsely gracious dinner party. Birdie and her niece, Alexandra (Judith J. Reed), sat at the invisible piano, paused until a tape of their Schubert piece began playing, and then mimed their duet in thin air. It should have been funny: Birdie and Alexandra at a pretend piano, dressed, like Addie and Regina, in billowing crinolines to give a sense of turn-of-the-century costumes; the sinister Hubbard trio toasting their wealthy future with goblets of water; Addie opening imaginary double doors.

Instead, it was powerful. Director Nona Lloyd watched as two figures stood momentarily alone in the spotlit gloom of the stage. Nervous but still caught up in her memories, Birdie fingered her hair and spoke in a near-whisper. "Imagine, Addie. Going all the way to Europe just to listen to music." Addie smiled and nodded, and as the others entered the section of stage that was meant to be a parlor, began serving the port from a tray that would be ornate silver by opening night.

They fawned on their guest, whose infusion of cash would convert the family cotton mill into a powerhouse, and brittle gentility reigned. From time to time, as Regina swayed through the blank, barely defined space in a bright T-shirt and crinkling crinolines, there were typical rehearsal gaps. Once or twice, Malizia spoke his lines v-e-r-y slowly, and McConnell looked to stage manager Frank Ramirez for the exact wording of his latest pronouncement. No matter. Not only was the mood of the dark play intact, and vivid in the dim rehearsal hall, its cast was finding and refining the twisted personalities of their characters. During a short break, Malizia explained. "I'm having a great time. It's fun playing a person who has no moral scruples at all. He's a tough guy -- he's incredibly manipulative.

"The Hubbards are not at all like my own family, but you play a character and there's always a part of you in him. This guy says all the things I may think, but never say."

Just then Lloyd's voice rang through the gloom, and the break ended. "Let's start at the top of Act I," the director announced, and Malizia joined the others at the folding table that represented the Hubbard dining table. The Hubbard's manservant Cal (Dementrius Wharton) picked up a tray of goblets, Addie moved into place and -- despite the air of improvisation that the sketchy set might suggest -- the dark stage became the Hubbards' home, full of dark feelings and plots.

"Ready," Lloyd said, conversationally. "Lights up."

Playbill

What: 'The Little Foxes' by Lillian Hellman, presented by Seaside Music Theater.

When: 8 p.m Jan. 16-17, 20-24 and 2 p.m. Jan. 18 and 25.

Where: Ormond Beach Performing Arts Center, 399 North U.S. 1, Ormond Beach.

Tickets: $18 and $20 for adults, $10 for children younger than 18; $12 for full-time college students with valid ID. Tickets are available by calling the SMT box office, (904) 252-6200 or (800) 854-5592.