For those of a certain age, the ‘60s are remembered — fondly or not — as the age of political protest. But between anti-ICE and No Kings rallies, the ‘60s take a back seat to the nationwide protests sweeping the nation. With this in mind, Florida Rep Producing Artistic Director Greg Longenhagen believes it’s a good time to bring Neil Simon’s “Star-Spangled Girl” to the historic Arcade Theatre.
“One of the reasons why we chose it is that if there is any ethos in there, it's really about free speech,” Longenhagen said.
But the gist of the play is not about protest, but rather the ability of love and comedy to heal any political divide.
“You've got these young Dartmouth-educated guys from Philly who go to San Francisco in 1966 to set up a protest magazine,” Longenhagen noted. “Who moves in next door but this Olympic swimmer, female swimmer, and she's very patriotic and what we call maybe conservative today.”
Within a nanosecond, the only cause the Dartmouth duo, Andy Hobart and Norman Cornell, care about is scoring points with their sweet-smelling upstairs star-spangled neighbor, Sophie Rauschmeyer.
In classic Neil Simon form, what ensues are shenanigans rife with comic conflict, slapstick, and jabs, japes, and jokes providing once and for all that love conquers all.
“Star-Spangled Girl” runs through Nov. 8 at Florida Repertory Theatre.
MORE INFORMATION:
“Star-Spangled Girl” is one of Neil Simon’s lesser-known plays.
It is set in the mid-1960s in a San Francisco apartment, where friends Norman Cornell and Andy Hobart are producing a left-wing magazine called "Fallout." Andy handles the business side of the publication. Norman provides the content.
When beautiful former Olympic swimmer moves in upstairs, Norman becomes insanely infatuated with her even though she is unabashedly of the my-country-right-or-or-wrong mentality and engaged to a Marine. The very smell of Sophie drives Norman to such distraction that he can’t focus enough to write. That endangers the magazine and spurs Andy to keep Norman on track by any means, including hiring Sophie, even though she has no secretarial skills let alone journalistic ones.
A number of critics have panned the play as dated, particularly in terms of the sexist pre-Me Too ways in which both Norman and Andy relate to Sophie. But most audiences are willing to regard those excesses as signs of a bygone time.
“Charm, brightness, deft inventiveness and capacity for good, honest hilarity,” said the New York Post.
In the original Broadway play, Anthony Perkins played Andy, Richard Benjamin was Norman and Connie Stevens portrayed Sophie.
The cast
Gavin Michaels plays Andy Hobart. His recent credits include Helmy in “Crooked Cross” (Mint Theatre Company, Off-Broadway), Victor Frankenstein in “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein” (Cleveland Play House), Christopher Wren in “The Mousetrap” (Gulfshore Playhouse), and “Law and Order: SVU.” He is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve University MFA acting program. He is currently in post-production for “Son of a Bysshe,” an eccentric period drama short film he wrote, produced, and starred in, following the early life of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Larry Toyter makes his Florida Repertory Theatre debut in the role of Norman Cornell. Recent credits include “Milk and Honey” (Adi, J2 Spotlight, Off-Broadway), “Dames at Sea” (Lucky, Florida Studio Theatre), “The Inheritance” (Jasper/Paul Wilcox, Zoetic Stage), and “Light Switch” (Roggie, Island City Stage). Other favorite credits include “The Wizard of Oz” (Scarecrow, Riverside Center), “Frozen” (King Agnarr, Maltz Jupiter Theatre), “A Chorus Line” (Bobby, LPAC), and “42nd Street” (Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Sharon Playhouse, Riverside Center, LPAC).
Ellee Jo Trowbridge makes her Florida Repertory Theatre debut in the role of Sophie Rauschmeyer. She is a graduate of Rider University with two bachelor’s degrees in musical and technical theatre. Other professional credits include Billie in ”Nice Work If You Can Get It” and CB’s Sister at the Hollywood Fringe Festival’s production of ”Dog Sees God.”
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
