Much like its musical counterpart Guys On Ice, Jeff Daniels' Escanaba in da Moonlight appeals to audiences that wouldn't normally go to the theater. The 1995 comedy about deer hunting in upper Michigan opens at the Sunset Playhouse in Elm Grove on Oct. 17, just days after Windfall Theatre closes its production of Daniels' The Vast Difference.
The play follows the plight of Reuben Soady, an unfortunate hunter who has never managed to bag a buck. The 43-year-old Soady, played by Milwaukee's Jim Bloomingdale, is joined by his father and two brothers on opening day of deer-hunting season in a light comedy marked by Daniels' characteristic wit. It may not be terribly deep, but Sunset Playhouse Artistic Director Mark Salentine says the show's light nature doesn't make it any less of a challenge to stage.
"I found myself doing as much research for this show as I might have done for, say, A Streetcar Named Desire," Salentine says.
The comedy, steeped in the distinctive dialect of the Upper Peninsula, has to give Soady's plight the right amount of emotional intensity without weighing it down.
"We're staying within the parameters of the script as written, not trying to force more or do more than asked by Daniels," Salentine says.
Salentine and company are working to create a certain level of Upper Peninsula authenticity instead of going too far in the direction of comic farce. The challenge is to take a story that consists of a series of increasingly unlikely events and somehow make each one of them seem believable. "We want to tell the story, not just tell a few jokes," Salentine says.
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Despite the challenges, the cast appears to be in fine form. Salentine says the actors have been able to laugh throughout the rehearsals while still accomplishing some serious work. In addition to Bloomingdale, notable cast members include Robert Zimmerman (who recently starred in Sunset's production of Damn Yankees) as Reuben's father and seasoned comic actor Matthew J. Patten as UFO abductee Jimmer Negamanee.
The Sunset Playhouse's production of Escanaba in da Moonlight runs through Nov. 8.
