"Arsenic and Old Lace" born in Windsor

WINDSOR - Don’t be fooled, just because the Windsor Jester’s production of "Arsenic and Old Lace" happens to be set in Brooklyn, New York. The screw-ball comedy is Windsor, Connecticut born and bred, and produced in conjunction with Windsor’s month long celebration of the town’s 375th anniversary.

In the comedy, two elderly aunts, played with delightfully sweet ditziness by Lisa Coleman Hasty and Joan Perkins-Smith, lure elderly lonely gentlemen to their home where they poison them with arsenic-tainted elderberry wine.

In the notorious real case, from 1914, Amy Archer Gilligan was convicted of poisoning Franklin Andrews and others in her home for the elderly in Windsor. Gilligan was eventually judged insane and lived out her days at the Connecticut Valley Hospital in Middletown.

It may seem an odd premise for a comedy, but the play, written in 1939 by Joseph Kesselring, ran successfully on Broadway, and was subsequently made into an equally fine Frank Capra film starring Cary Grant and Peter Lorre in 1944.

One of the aunts sums it all up when she casually explains: "Murder is one of our charities."

In addition to the two wacky old aunts, there are three nephews. Teddy Brewster, played with terrific bravado by John Zeugner, as a man who is convinced he is President Theodore Roosevelt. One of the aunts says: "We would so much rather he be Teddy Roosevelt than nobody."
Jonathan Brewster, a psychopathic serial murderer, is another of the nephews, played with spooky meanness by Edwin Lewis III, and Mortimer Brewster, a theater critic, is the third brother.

Mortimer Brewster, played by Andrew Small, is the sanest of the bunch, and discovers his aunts’ "very bad habit" and tries to figure a way to keep them from going to jail, while doing his best to get rid of his bad brother Jonathan.

Mortimer tries to get out of reviewing a play that night because of what he has just learned about his aunts, but can’t so he asks his aunt for a piece of paper so he can write his review on the way to the theater, to save time. One of the aunts assures him that the odious business of theater reviewing will disappear when theater does - in a year or two.

The large cast were all fine, including including Lorrie Bacon who does the most she can with the ingenue part, Ron Blanchette as the freakish and energetic plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein, Clark Rogers as the thoughtful Rev. Dr. Harper, Bill Allen as the frustrated Irish Police Lt. Rooney, and Mark O’Donnell as Officer O’Hara the enthusiastic aspiring playwright.

Director Sharon Leigh Burr does a masterful job of keeping the dialog and action moving at a fast pace, while having little bits of business incorporated into the scenes, such as when a strange white shoe shows up, which belongs to one of the dead men.

Perhaps it would have been best to squeeze the three acts into two, and have just one intermission midway through the comedy.

Special mention goes to set designers Neal Brundage and John Zeugner for their excellent, expansive living room set with period furniture, including the extra-sturdy flight of stairs, well built for President Roosevelt to charge up.

ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

3 Stars
Location: L.P. Wilson Community Center, 599 Matianuck Ave., Windsor
Production: By Joseph Kesselring. Directed by Sharon Leigh Burr. Produced by the Windsor Jesters Board of Directors. Stage manager Sandy Miller. Set designed by Neal Brundage and John Zeugner. Costumes by Gerry Traczyk and Joan Brundage. Sound design by Kim Miller. Lighting design by Jim Simon.
Running time: 2 ½ hours, including two intermissions.
Show Times: Friday and Saturday Oct. 3 and 4 at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $15, $12 for seniors and students. Call 860-688-1526 or visit their website at www.windsorjesters.org

ACTOR...CHARACTER
Lisa Coleman Hasty ... Aunt Abby Brewster
Joan Perkins-Smith...Aunt Martha Brewster
Andrew Small ... Mortimer Brewster
Edwin Lewis III ... Jonathan Brewster
John Zeugner ...Teddy Brewster
Lorrie Bacon ... Elaine Harper
Mark O’Donnell ... Officer O’Hara
Ron Blanchette ... Dr. Einstein
Bill Allen ... Lt. Rooney
Mike Colburn ... Mr. Witherspoon
Jeff Ingram ... Officer Brophy
Dan Petronella ... Officer Klein
Clark Rogers ... Rev. Dr. Harper
Carroll Toal ... Mr. Gibbs