BY ROBERT DIGITALE
The zaniness factor is running exceedingly high this year at Summer Repertory Theatre.
Zany as a loud golf sweater. Zany as a big green monster with a wisecracking donkey for a sidekick. Zany as a play with only two actors performing a total of 15 different roles. Zany as tender-hearted pirates and “the very model of a modern major general.”
This week the annual summer theater extravaganza at Santa Rosa Junior College rolled out “Fox on the Fairway,” to be quickly followed by “Shrek,” “Stones in His Pockets” and “The Pirates of Penzance.”
The one exception from the zaniness this season may be the company’s production of “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” which premiered June 21. But looking at the progam, this takeoff on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic appears fittingly to have its own unique brand of craziness.
The zaniness for “Fox” begins quickly, as cast members take to the stage spouting one-liners about the strange nature of knocking white dimpled balls down fairways.
“Golf and sex are the only things you can enjoy without being any good at,” says one.
The story is a romp about which country club team will win the annual golf tournament, with an outrageous bet on the outcome. But it’s mostly an opportunity for a crazy situation comedy with witty lines, occasionally frenetic pacing and plenty of laughs. And lots of romance.
Bravo to cast members Emma Sohlberg, Drew Arisco, Danielle Frimer, Scott Fuss, Joshua Downs and Lexi Lyric, as well as to Director Eric Bishop and company.
For 42 years SRT has offered Sonoma County the chance to watch super-talented young actors come together from around the country to perform quality theater. Each season the cast members and backstage crew quickly form a rep company and produce multiple plays. Thursday’s sold-out performance of “Fox” at the Newman Auditorium shows that the community still appreciates this treasure of an institution.
Performances of the five plays continue through August 10. For tickets, call 527-4307 or go online to www.summerrep.com.
