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The production of All About Us that opened Thursday night Under the hilariously over-the-top direction of Gabriel Barre, the musical is by turns funny, moving, deadly serious, and wildly entertaining, a rich and largely faithful version of the American classic. Barre's talented cast of theater veterans boast singing voices and performances that could not be finer.....Shuler Hensley (Jud Fry in Oklahoma!) brings his powerful voice and world-weary manners to the part of George Antrobus, the inventor who has begun to think it's futile to go on. There may be no better time for this sparkling, funny and moving re-adaptation of Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, a play that is ultimately about human survival and persistence in the face of impossible odds. Westport's All About Us is, indeed, all about us. Deborah Hornblow, Hartford
Courant (Full review no longer online.)
All About Us
is based on Thornton
Wilder's Pulitzer
Prize-winning play The Skin of Our Teeth. "You will relate to the Antrobus
family stress as they deal with disruptive children, a seductive maid,
and even - a woolly mammoth! Exploring the meaning of family, the value
of imagination and the little things in life worth cherishing, All
About Us, a musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin
of Our Teeth, passionately reflects an optimistic view of life’s
miracles – the quintessential story of humanity and survival." "The new musical has a dazzling
profusion of themes, including the importance of family. A wild,
humorous, poignant and emotional journey, All About Us is the
story of the bewitched, befuddled and becalmed Antrobus family who
have survived a thousand calamities by the skin of their teeth. The
musical is a tribute to their indestructibility and a testament of
faith in humanity." "All
About Us, which is set in the
"Now and Always," concerns Mr. and Mrs. Antrobus, as well as
sexy narrator/maid Sabina - all of whom traverse the centuries in a
theatrical ode to human will and resilience". "The story kind of takes place
forever. It's about the human race as seen through the eyes of a
suburban New Jersey family during the '50s or '60s, although the date is
not exact. The family lives through cataclysmic events such as the ice
age, the story of Noah's ark and World War II. In short, it's a history
of our people. We were deeply involved with it from the beginning and
would not let it die. We thought it had something really important to
say to today's audience, and we say it with humor."
This production is a revamped version of
the show - "All About Us had a long
gestation period beginning with a 1999 production at Signature, helmed
by the theater's a.d. Eric D. Schaeffer. The project then disappeared
until Kander & Ebb and book writer Joseph Stein began reworking
the script with new helmer Gabriel Barre. 'We kept working on it
around Fred's kitchen table because we all just loved it,' says Stein,
94. 'We learned a lot from the Signature production and we were still
enormously enthusiastic about it. It was at least 95% done when Fred
died.' A 2005 workshop at the McCarter Theater in Princeton, N.J.,
gave the creative team confidence in their revisions. Producers Roger
Berlind, David Brown and Jacki Barlia-Florin teamed with Kander and
Stein to fund the workshop. Barlia-Florin then arranged for a
presentation for reps of regional not-for-profits in January 2006.
Westport was selected as the venue for the new version's preem and the
show, with a cast of 17, runs April 10-28."
Shuler plays Mr Antrobus. Joining him in the cast are the legendary Eartha Kitt as Esmeralda the Fortune Teller, and Cady Huffman as Sabina the maid. Ms Huffman was the original Ulla in The Producers on Broadway, and won the 2001 Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.
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ALL ABOUT US
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