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GET assembles top cast for classic 'Arsenic'
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| | | The Brewster sisters (Marianne Fraulo and Nita Hardy) entertain a “guest,” but not for long, in “Arsenic and Old Lace” at Georgia Ensemble Theatre. BARRY ANBINDER. | |
November 04, 2009
Roswell – Once again Georgia Ensemble Theatre (GET) has dipped into a treasure trove of classics and come up with a polished gem of a comedy, "Arsenic and Old Lace."
Written in 1939 by American playwright Joseph Kesselring (his only success on the stage), the first Broadway production opened in 1941 and went on to play 1,444 performances — although the Frank Capra film with Cary Grant and Josephine Hull is what most of us remember.
Onstage, "Arsenic" is spooky, riotous and nostalgic. It has never lost popularity with the public.
It's a black comedy about Mortimer Brewster, the theater critic who is about to discover instead of one daffy uncle who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt, he has two daffier aunts who like to entertain older gentlemen and poison them. Then his brother, a serial killer, comes home after an absence of many years to lay low.
And this is a comedy? Yes, in a cringingly, eerie sort of way. It is all good fun as he tries to keep his new fiancée from discovering the skeletons in the, ah, basement actually, until he can get a handle on what it means to be a member of a homicidal clan.
A strong cast is headed by John Ammerman, who starred for GET Artistic Director Robert Farley as Thomas More in Theatre in the Square's widely acclaimed "Man for All Seasons." He is the much plagued Mortimer.
Equity actors Marianne Fraulo and Nita Hardy will portray the murderous spinster aunts, Abby and Martha Brewster.
Dunwoody Stage Door Players Artistic Director Robert Egizio gets the plum role of Mortimer's older brother, Jonathan, who bears a strong resemblance to Boris Karloff. He played the part on Broadway but couldn't appear in the film version. It should be great fun.
- Hatcher Hurd
 View images. Arsenic and Old Lace
When: Nov. 5-22
Where: Roswell Cultural Arts Center 950 Forrest St., Roswell
Box Office: 770-641-1260
Tickets: $23-$33
Tags: Roswell
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