Theater Review: Bonneville High School presents ‘Tuck Everlasting’
The set of “Tuck Everlasting” at Bonneville High School. Caril Jennings
Bonneville High School presents “Tuck Everlasing”
Written by Natalie Babbitt
Music by Chris Miller, Lyrics by Nathan Tysen, Book by Claudia Sheer and Tim Federle
Directed by Lindsea Garside
April 17, 18, 20, 21, 23, 24, 27 @ 7pm, April 25, @ 2pm matinee
Today is your last chance to see Tuck Everlasting. The set is a treat for the eyes and imagination as you enter the auditorium. The forest moves, and I mean it. Lindsea Garside has done a marvelous job and produced beautiful and thought-provoking art.
Time. What do you think about time? This play looks at time from so many angles. Everyone of my “me”s found meaning after meaning.
The play is based on a 1975 children’s book of the same name. A child’s book about immortality seems pretty daunting but it is handled through the fantasy of a family, the Tucks, who cannot age or die because they unknowingly drank from a magic spring. Each person in the family comes to grips, in a manner of speaking, with the dilemmas presented by never aging while the world goes on as it does.
Most poignant is Jesse, 17, and longing for a companion of his own age for a “partner in crime.” He is the Bam-Bam kind of kid; always noisy, reckless, exuberant. When he meets a young girl, Winnie, who has run away from home to find adventure, he thinks he has finally found that person. The problem here is Winnie is only 11. Jesse wants her to wait six years and then drink from the fountain, too, so they can have adventures forever.
The way the parents accept their lot is tragically noble as they try to keep the family going under unusual circumstances through time. Miles, the older brother, has his own share of grief, knowing that his wife fled with his son, Thomas, when she accused him of witchcraft for never aging. He never saw his son again. His grief is partially redeemed when he learns that his son dies as an old and happy man, knowing in his heart that the son loved his father his whole life and his father loved the son.
I’m crying as I write this. I’m at the end of remembering and I have all these treasured memories of my time here on this planet. This play reminds me of how lucky I am and how grateful, too. Young to old, every audience member will find something that resonates personally.
Speaking of memories, the flurry of fairy princesses dancing through the forest seemed to represent memories of youth; the cliche of dancing young women and men is always a romantic situation. This is where choreography and costume were well met. Every woman had a subtle but suitable color for a forest. Their flowing dresses emphasized the choreography.
The forest is also a character. It is constantly changing by rearranging certain trees and use of dramatic colors in jewel tones. The painting of the side curtains is gorgeous. Kudos to the artists of choreography (Lindsea Garside), costume (Stephanie Bruckman), scenic (Aisha Garcia) and lighting design (Darren Maxfield). We should also note that the music director, Mishy Kirby, is retiring after 32 years at Bonneville.
The ensemble cast has a variety of roles and it looked like they were all making the most of it. The main characters carried a heavy load, especially 11-year-old Winnie (Parker Johnson), Jesse Tuck (Kimball Coombs), and Miles Tuck (Christian Jensen). Father Angus Tuck was touchingly wise and Mae Tuck (Carley Price) is the quintessential mother. The Man in the Yellow Suit (Logan Crookston) is a one-man show all by himself.
I hope you get a chance to see this show and contemplate your own time here on Earth and who knows where else?