{"id":8114,"date":"2019-08-08T06:43:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T10:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8114"},"modified":"2019-08-21T08:21:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T12:21:36","slug":"the-rainmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=8114","title":{"rendered":"The Rainmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey<\/a>\u2019s\nnew production of the N. Richard Nash hit The\nRainmaker<\/em> is an apt thematic fit for a summer this hot, where land and\nspirits are parched. STNJ\u2019s artistic director Bonnie J. Monte directs the show,\npreserving all its comedy and charm, which opened August 3 and runs through\nAugust 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early 1950s, somewhere Out West,\nthe Curry family ranch is in trouble. A severe drought imperils the cattle\nherd, and tempers are frayed. Father H.C. Curry (Mark Elliot Wilson), older son\nNoah (Benjamin Eakeley), and younger son Jim (Isaac Hickox-Young) are\npreoccupied not only with the lack of rain but with their clumsy attempts to\ninterest someone\u2014anyone?\u2014in marrying their sister Lizzie (Monette Magrath). A\nvisit to the office of Sheriff Thomas (Nick Plakias) to inveigle his deputy,\nFile (Corey Sorenson), to come to dinner\u2014a fix-up ploy File sees through\nimmediately\u2014fails miserably. Noah counsels Lizzie to act more like the mincing,\nflattering kind of woman who, though vapid and undignified in Lizzie\u2019s view, gets\nher man nonetheless. His and her imitation of how she should<\/em> behave provides a number of hearty audience laughs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just when the family\u2019s situation\nseems bleakest, with their prospects as empty as the sky is empty of clouds, flamboyant\nBilly Starbuck (Anthony Marble) appears at their door, claiming to be a\nrainmaker. All he needs is $100. As ranch manager, Noah wants to run him off\nthe property; Lizzie calls him a con man and a liar. Only Jim, na\u00efve enough to\nsee the world through the lens of hope and H.C., desperate enough to try\nanything and astute enough to see something in Starbuck that might broaden\nLizzie\u2019s horizons, want him to stay. What can be the outcome of such a reckless\nand costly venture?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the Currys are well portrayed,\nwith Magrath especially poignant and frustrated as Lizzie, facing what Noah\nclaims is certain spinsterhood. Hickox-Young is delightful as the credulous,\nmercurial Jim, quick to take offense and as quick to forgive. Eakeley plays the\nover-practical Noah with a hard edge, while secretly yearning for relief from\nthe burdens of the ranch and the family. And Wilson as H.C. manages to be simultaneously\nindulgent and strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a sense it is Marble\u2019s show when\nhe is on stage, because his showman character is so unpredictably over-the-top,\nyet the actor conveys heart-warming tenderness when dealing with Lizzie, and\nMagrath is equally engaging in their scenes together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The script holds up some 65 years\nafter being written and retains its comedic as well as romantic luster. It\u2019s\neasy to see why this strong and moving story has been revived on stage, made\ninto a movie, and repackaged as a musical (110\nin the Shade<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey\nproductions are hosted at Drew University in Madison, N.J. (easily reachable\nfrom NYC by train). For tickets, call the box office at 973-408-5600 or visit\nthe Box Office\nonline<\/a>. Note that STNJ offers special ticket pricing of $30 for\ntheatergoers under age 30!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey\u2019s new production of the N. Richard Nash hit The Rainmaker is an apt thematic fit for a summer this hot, where land and spirits are parched. STNJ\u2019s artistic director Bonnie J. Monte directs the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Rainmaker - the stage classic in a powerful new production at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[272,366,104,147],"tags":[553,1620],"class_list":["post-8114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedy","category-drama","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-shakespeare-theatre-of-new-jersey","tag-the-rainmaker"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/STNJ-The-Rainmaker2.jpg?fit=1494%2C768&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-26S","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8116,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8114\/revisions\/8116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}