MOLLY VANDENBERG
Staff Writer
They say there’s no place like home for the holidays, or in Sheridan Whiteside’s case, someone else’s home.
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” is the last Walter Gloor Mainstage Series production of the semester. It’s an American comedy in three acts, written by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman. It originally premiered on Broadway in October 1939.
The setting is Christmas time in the 1930s. The play features famous radio personality Sheridan Whiteside, who is invited to dinner at the home of a rich factory owner. Before entering the house, Whiteside falls and injures himself and ends up having to stay at the home to recover. This results in him terrorizing the lives of everyone else who is there with him.
This mainstage production is directed by Department of Theatre and Dance faculty member James Ivey. He believes that students should be exposed to culture and connections to the past.
“Of all of the commercial playwrights of the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart are two of the best. Their plays ran on Broadway for decades, and they had a play on Broadway for every year from 1921 to 1958 — there was a play either written by or directed by George S. Kaufman. Moss Hart was one of his collaborators that came along later in his career, and the two of them together wrote not only this play, but ‘You Can’t Take it With You,’ which is … probably one of the most produced plays in all of the American theater next to Thornton Wilder’s ‘Our Town.’ These plays are a part of American culture,” said Ivey.
There’s also a lot of praise for the set design and costumes and the faculty members who designed them.
“It will be so much fun to watch with the beautiful costumes that will be there on the stage by Dixon Reynolds … and the setting by Brian McMullen is also going to be absolutely wonderful to see. It’s a play that brings us into the Christmas season … since Act Two takes place on Christmas Eve and Act Three takes place on Christmas Day. It’s a comedy where we will walk away feeling good about ourselves,” said Ivey.
Tom Loughlin, the Theatre and Dance chairman, will be playing the role of Whiteside in Fredonia’s production.
“It’s both exhausting and challenging [to play Whiteside]. The character is on stage 90 percent of the play and really has to command the stage. He is a larger-than-life character, and the energy required to perform the part is intense, to say the least, but it’s also a damn lot of fun at the same time,” said Loughlin.
This will actually be Loughlin’s last time on the Marvel stage as a performer, as he’ll be stepping down from his current position in the summer after teaching at Fredonia since 1988.
Loughlin has only positive words about his time here.
“I’ve been lucky, truly lucky, to have had the opportunity to create so much theater with so many wonderful people, faculty and students alike.”
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” will run from Nov. 30 to Dec. 4. Tickets are $12 for students and $20 for the general public.