Humans are wired for storytelling. From the time the first hunters painted their experience in French caves, we have been riveted by a story that taps into the universal zeitgeist of our times. This is even more true today, with Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey’s (STNJ) production of N. Richard Nash’ instant classic play “The Rainmaker.”
Long before there was “show me the money,” “making it rain” had a far more literal meaning. When we visit the Curry family on their farm, on the border of Texas and Oklahoma, in the early 1950s, we land there in the middle of a very dry season. While there is certainly a physical drought going on, there is also a spiritual, emotional, and cultural drought going on. And the heart of the heartland’s harsh conditions extend beyond the farms and pasture lands.
H.C. Curry (Mark Elliot Wilson) is the Curry patriarch. He is a large, rough man with a mane of silver hair and a gorgeous matching beard. You see a lifetime of toil in the set of his shoulders and a lifetime of laughter in his philosophical approach to life–both his and those of his children. Eldest son Noah (Benjamin Eakeley) runs the farm with an iron hand and a born bean-counter’s practicality–dollars and sense are what he is working to make with the farm and he has his hands full with his dad and his little brother Jimmy (Isaac Hickox-Young). Jimmy is a smitten kitten, chasing after a young woman named Snookie, with a red hat and an equally hot five-cylinder Essex, and he’s as hard to pin down as a firefly on a summer night. The first few minutes of this show draw portraits of the Curry men, like a brush painting suggests a moving horse in three strokes, and soon, we see the force that keeps these men on their toes–Lizzie Curry. Lizzie (Monette Magrath) has just returned from a trip that had been planned for her, Object–Matrimony, and she has not been successful. Remember, this is the early 1950s, when the Greatest Generation still had some cultural change to make. Ward and June Cleaver were the norm and, seeing this play with our modern sensibilities, makes for some truly educational moments.
The Curry family loves one another, but they cannot communicate. The pointy parts of all of their personalities are in the same place. Jimmy simultaneously looks up to Noah, even when he’s defending Lizzie from Noah’s constant harangue. Noah feels crushed beneath the weight of keeping the family and the farm going and this drought is working everyone’s last nerve–when rescue comes in an unexpected form—enter Bill Starbuck.
Starbuck (Anthony Marble) is crafted of spider webs and moonbeams. Marble delivers a dream weaver, whose heart goes out to every Lizzie that he’s ever known. Every woman who has ever been told more about what she’s not than about the beauty she possesses that lies within. This is as big as opera, with a love duet between a confidence man with a heart of gold and the beautiful woman who unlocks the sparkle that shows us Starbuck’s heart is truly gold. Nash gives us so much food for thought that he seems prescient–much of what resonated 70 years ago reverberates now, in the 21st century. And you’ll be in for some surprises that show you how far we have truly come in our culture.
This play has so many moments–Jimmy has such a fresh perspective on the world that dour Noah does not, yet, appreciate. H.C. has seen a lot of water under the bridge, and losing his wife, several years before, gave him an instant perspective that helps him guide his children toward happiness, even when they don’t always recognize it for what it is. Corey Sorenson’s File is the lawman who protects the town with vigor, and his own heart with chains. Nick Plakias’ Sheriff Thomas has seen so much, a sage and simple seeming character, whose depth emerges in the second act. These performances linger long after you leave the theater.
The finest moments for me are the ways Magrath’s Lizzie takes us on her journey of realization, discovery, and self-love, critical to a life well lived. Tears came to my eyes several times watching the beautiful trauma–the risky leaps and the commensurate rewards—you must see this show.
Bonnie Monte, Artistic Director of STNJ, can do it all. She directs and has designed the set and it is limned to perfection by Matthew J. Weisgable’s lighting, which flows like music. Steven L. Beckel’s sound design sets our moods with subtle grace and Hugh Hanson’s costume designs deliver the full measure of each role giving us everything we need to feel these fully realized deeply loving, sometimes damaged people with all of our hearts.
This affecting and genuinely beautiful show only runs through August 18, so get your tickets! Visit www.ShakespeareNJ.org or call the box office at 973/408-5600 your tickets today! This is an experience to share with someone you love, or someone you would like to love–make it rain!