ENCHANTED APRIL, Hale Center Theater, Orem, through May 21 (226-8600). Running time: two hours (one intermission).
OREM — It's easy to expect a "chick flick" kind of show, but "Enchanted April" is better than that.
It's fresh, fun and different — in fact, it's just delightful.
The dialogue is clever and there are plenty of humorous moments. The characters are people you're interested in knowing.
Lotty Wilton — played by Hannah Stoehr on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — is outspoken, generous and slightly radical in her thinking, especially for a 1920s woman. Yet, she's feeling stifled by a controlling, perfectionist husband. She gets the ball rolling on the Italian holiday "for those who appreciate wisteria and sunshine" that changes everyone's lives.
Rose Arnott, or "the disappointed Madonna," played by Tracy Whitlock, is deeply depressed over the loss of a child and can't quite get up the energy and spirit to love her successful writer husband. She also can't stop Lotty from "plotting."
The magic of the castle works the most obvious change on her, but Whitlock is wonderful at keeping the transition believable. Her outlook changes only in minuscule degrees so that by the time she's happy you can buy it.
Jolene Sayers played the audacious Caroline Bramble and is remarkably aloof, careful and, yet, still vulnerable. Her fashions are stunning.
Mrs. Graves, played by Karen Baird, is the typical crotchety old lady who mistakenly thinks the others work for her.
The men in the cast are quite good as well — Mark Pulham plays Mellersh Wilton, Rex Kocherhans is Frederick Arnott and Matthew Haws plays Antony Wilding. All three meet some surprises along the way and just have to deal with them.
However, the star of the show is Linda Garay, who plays Costanza. She's wickedly funny, and her Italian is perfectly understandable when she reacts to Mrs. Grave's demands.
The set is outstanding as well. It's always impressive how the set designers at Hale Center work within the confines of a small space — but in this, they outdid themselves.
The draped curtains work nicely as the backdrop for the three parlors, but once they are pulled away and the stone castle and flowers are put in place, it's dramatic and gorgeous. Then the lighting is done so well that it really feels and looks like the warm Italian sun is in residence.
This is a story that's surprisingly easy to watch and enjoy.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com