THE ARTS ETC
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THE MAJESTIC THEATER
presents
GREATER TUNA
a comedy by
Jaston Williams, Joe Sears and Ed Howard
November 10 thru December 18, 2011
Producing Director, Danny Eaton
Director, Sam Rush
Set Designer, Greg Trochlil Costumer, Deb Trimble
Light Design, Daniel D. Rist Sound Design, Tom Shread
Stage Manager, Rachel Putnam*
Greater Tuna debuted in Austin, Texas, in the fall of 1981, and had its off-Broadway premiere in 1982.
REVIEWED BY B. K. GRANT
Greater Tuna is the first play in a series of four (followed by A Tuna Christmas, Red, White and Tuna and Tuna Does Vegas). Collectively they are a light-hearted mockery of small-town life and attitudes, occasionally injected with a satirical slant on the South’s darker side. Touted as the most produced play in America by 1985, the Majestic’s production of Greater Tuna gets off to a great start filling the house with laughter at the deliverance of the first few lines.
Welcome to Tuna, Texas, the third smallest town in the state, where Patsy Cline, Elvis and Johnny Cash are alive and well. The minimally propped set of vinyl and chrome took me back to my folks’ kitchen where we sat, lickin’ and stickin’ those S&H Green Stamps into their books. (For you young ‘uns, S&H refers to Sperry and Hutchinson, a trading stamp company). The vintage console radio center stage spews snippets of fifties country-rock alternating with short news bulletins as various characters are seen
.
Arles Struvie and Thurston Wheelis are disc jockeys at radio station OKKK where they deliver the news and farm reports several times each day. J. T. Waite* and James Hartman* respectively are tremendously successful in portraying these and other Tuna residents - twenty different characters in all. To name a few:
Charlene Bumiller, a high school senior with platinum pigtails, has tried out for cheerleader for the past seven years. The Reverend Spikes, president of the Smut Snatchers of the New Order, and Vera Carp, vice-president of the SSNO, are high class town snobs. R. R. Snavely, the town drunk, claims to have seen a UFO – will he ever be believed? Phinias Blye is a politician who runs unsuccessfully for City Council every election. Didi Snavely is the owner of Didi’s Used Weapons (“If we can’t kill it, it’s immortal!”).
These interesting townsfolk and more thread themselves in and out of the story line, are always in character and are comically credible. It is amazing that Waite and Hartman each are true to one persona one moment and, snap, they are someone else totally different, aided by approximately seventy speedy costume changes, a few before our very eyes. Even the accidental slipping of an apron is worked into the action without a hitch.
Kudos to the talented production team: Danny Eaton, Sam Rush, Rachel Putnam*, Greg Trochlil, Deb Trimble, Dan Rist, Tom Shread, Karo Kilfeather, Jenny Wall, Aurora Ferraro, Craig Milne, Chris Thompson, Amber Tanudjaja, Brittany Deventer and Kirt Kaminski. The talents of these and many other ‘in-house’ people are what made this production great. Put this show on your ‘must see’ list.
Once again Greater Tuna has warmed the cockles of our hearts. Yes, it has, it has.
*The Actor appears through the courtesy of Actor’s Equity Association,
the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Creators Joe Sears and Jaston Williams did command performances of both Greater Tuna and A Tuna Christmas at the White House for President and Mrs. George H.W. Bush.
Check out the official Tuna web site at www.greatertuna.com where there is a wealth of info, gizmos and DVDs for your enjoyment.
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From the panhandle paradise of Tuna, which just happens to be the third smallest town in Texas, comes the outrageously funny and inventive Greater Tuna. Arles Struvie and Thurston Wheelis, the disc jockeys at reactionary Radio Station OKKK, not only deliver the news and farm reports, but introduce us to some twenty other denizens of the town, like Petey Fisk, for example, from the Humane Society; Vera Carp the town snob; UFOlogist R. R. Snavely; and others, to name a few. Greater Tuna is a tour de force for two actors and a side-splitting hit perfect for the Majestic stage.
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