‘Wind in the Willows’ Delights

Stage Left
Bill Lockwood
Allen Bennett’s musical version of Kenneth Grahame’s classic children’s tale “The Wind in the Willows” opened the weekend of June 17, and it will play again Thursday June 23 7:00 pm. and Saturday, June 25, at 8:00 pm. at the Hellen Miller Theater in the Walpole Town Hall. It is in conjunction with the Walpole Old Home Days marking the post Covid return of both the event and the Walpole Players tradition of presenting a production as part of the festivities. Friday June 24 has other evening Old Home Days events.

This story certainly has endured. It was first published in the US in 1908. I still have the copy my godmother gave me when I was born, and it is likely the first book that was read to me. President of the Walpole Players and Director of this production Lisa Bryan says that is probably typical of a lot of “our generation.” A. A. Milne, author of “Winnie the Pooh” and a contemporary of Grahame wrote a stage version of the story, “Toad of Toad Hall” that appeared on the London stage in 1929 and played for a number of years at Christmastime. The Bennett musical appeared in London in 1991. Bryan says, “It’s quite charming, It has some hilarious lines and scenes, Bennett has put his very British humor in it.”

This production has an interesting story as well as the story told by the musical itself. Originally planned to run in conjunction with the every three year Walpole Old Home Days in June 2020. The production had been cast in early March of that year, and it was ready to start spring rehearsals when, in mid March, pretty much everything shut down amid the early days of unknowns with the pandemic. The Walpole Players postponed the production, and the Town postponed Old Home Days as well. Bryan, says that all except two of the children had to be re-cast, but only three of the adults in the cast had to be replaced from the group that was ready to start rehearsing two years ago. Bryan notes that Covid is still an issue, having had three cast members miss time and other Covid scares, They seemed to never have had a rehearsal with the full cast present.

This is also a revival of the same musical presented by the Walpole Players in 1993. Bryan says that four cast members from that production have returned to appear in it again. That production was directed by Jane Skofield. She and her husband had seen it on a trip to Europe in the early 1990s at the National Theater of London. Thinking it would be just the thing for the Walpole players Skofield wrote to the theatrical agency representing it in London. Hearing nothing back she then wrote to the author Bennett himself. Her son, longtime participant with the Walpole Players, Jim Skofield, says, “Miraculously he answered.” Bennett granted this amateur group permission to do his work as long as they didn’t advertise it as the first North American production since he was hoping a production on Broadway would want to have that distinction. The Walpole Players of that time, of course, agreed, and they were ‘in fact” the first to present Bennett’s work in the US. The Walpole Players are dedicating this current production to the late Jane Skofield. Her son says, “My mother would be very proud to be honored in this way by an organization which she and my father, Herman, helped to found… and one to which she dedicated many hours of work.”

Despite Bryan and the group’s struggles to get the show on, the performance I saw last Saturday had an enthusiastic cast that delighted the audience with a good piece of light summer theater. The story centers on woodland creatures acting very much like the humans they interact with. Mole and Rat (a European water mole, no a big city nor New England river rat), form an unlikely alliance with Badger and attempt to keep the reckless and impractical Toad in line. Mike Wright as Mole and John Luther as Rat carried the show. And there were strong performances by the other two principals, Badger played by Dennis Scott, and Tom Durnford who plays Toad. The script has these four males, but no real female leads. Sharon Miller as the Barge Lady had an engaging solo. The rest of the singing was done as part of the ensemble. Otherwise the music was basically incidental, complimenting the action quite well. Bryan, a musician herself, says they had “an eclectic group of instruments chosen by the writer to match the sounds [of the setting] … .being more like a little minstrel band.” They had an accordion, acoustic guitar, and bass clarinet to name just three. The entire cast is to be commended, but in particular notable performances were turned in by Bill Perron as Albert, the horse, Mike Delaney in more than one role, and Lea Kablik as the Goaler’s Daughter, Carolyn Norback as The Washerwoman, and Gina Richardson as the Gypsy., Deb Robarge and Jenny Plane. The animal characters were cleverly costumed mostly as English gentry of the early 1900s, with bits of animal make up, tails, ears, and such. The children, some very young, were charming of course. Bryan skillfully managed to get 24 actors, through numerous scene changes in the limited space of the Walpole stage. The limited set featured masterfully painted backdrops and simple set pieces by Annie Ewaskio.

Anyone wishing information or tickets for next weekend’s performance can access them online through their website, TheWalpolePlayers.org. Tickets are also available at Galloway Real Estate and at the door.