Summer fun in the mountains

Review by Scott Whithed

Beautiful Damsel: "I can't pay the rent!" Moustachioed Cad: "You must pay the rent!"

Cheers, boos, hisses, sighs. Such is the stuff of melodrama, and it sure is fun. The Southern Colorado Theatre Company knows this, leading it to open its fourth annual summer melodrama Friday night at the Beulah Community Center. Tim Kelly's "Stop the Presses, or She's Not My Type" was the centerpiece of an evening that included the traditional olio - a short revue with comedy, sorta-magic, dance and even opera - plus pre- and post-show singalongs and a closing can-can.

The near-capacity crowd, seated at long tables as they snacked on popcorn and soft drinks, enjoyed the evening's activities thoroughly. Many were obviously melodrama veterans, and they relished every opportunity to boo the villain and "awww" over the heroine. They became an integral part of the show, some even interjecting quips of their own into the proceedings.

The play takes place in the "old days" in the office of the "Colorado Clarion" newspaper, which sits on the famous "four corners" where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico meet. Editor Aspen Print (Amy Hardwick), the aforementioned damsel, is embroiled in a hotly contested race for mayor between Edna Torial (Brenna Baros), a Ms. Kennedy Quimby blowhard who won't even promise to repair the town's potholes, and the dastardly (with a capital "D") Sleazy Tab Lloyd (Cory Moosman), a con artist, complete with oily moustache, who has discovered that Clarion will be on a new rail line and intends to profit from his secret knowledge.

Aspen and her hunky sheriff boyfriend, Jack Newsworthy (Dwayne Jeffers) are out to prove that not only is Sleazy unworthy of being mayor, he is actually also Swampwater Sam, the local heinous outlaw. Sleazy, with help from his henchman (the delightful Andy Wagner), is out to win the election by hook or crook.

After tricking Granny Print (Lori Trejo) into selling the paper to him, aided by the surprise arrival of Chiffon Delure (Trina Stimmel), an actress-forger who teams with him even after being double-crossed in a previous swindle, Sleazy writes daily editorials promoting his own candidacy. Sadly for him, neither his rhetorical exhortations nor an attempted ballot box switch manages to win him his coveted position. After a four-state chase (around the newspaper office), Sleazy and Chiffon get their just deserts, and Aspen and Jack get their just engagement smooch.

Moosman was outstanding as the villain. His ad libs with his love-to-hate-him admirers in the audience highlighted his virtuoso performance. With a purple top hat, a red-lined black cape, and a speech pattern somewhere between a malevolent W.C. Fields and Oz's wizard, he was the very model of the modern major cad.

Hardwick was a treat. Her graceful-but-exaggerated gestures let her posture and pose her way into the crowd's hearts. She was a larger-than-life heroine, just right for the genre. Wagner was a riot, a real-life Mortimer Snerd who lost his too-small hat each time he tripped, spun or stumbled, which happened each and every time he was on stage.

"Stop the Presses" is worth the drive to Beulah. It continues at 7 p.m. tonight and Aug. 6-8. Look for the Community Center next to the Methodist Church on Pennsylvania.

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