‘Little Me’ At TheatreWorks Is Wonderful Entertainment

By Julie Stern

NEW MILFORD — In the 1950s, Patrick Dennis was wildly successful with his fictional account of life with his “Auntie Mame.”  The novel became a Broadway show, a Hollywood movie, a hit musical and a second movie; you may recall Louis Armstrong singing “You took the blues right out of the horn, Mame.”

In 1961, Dennis published Little Me, the purported memoirs of another strong, eccentric, larger than life female personality. However, where Auntie Mame was as warmly sentimental as it was funny, Little Me is a satirical portrait of Belle Potrine, a woman of little talent whose greed and relentless ambition eventually bring her from Drifters Row, on “the wrong side of the tracks,” to the top of the social heap.

This story was also quickly turned into a Broadway musical, for which Neil Simon wrote the book and Cy Coleman the music. In the original 1962 production, Sid Caesar starred, playing Noble Eggleston, who Belle loved ever since he was “the richest boy in town back in Venezuela, Illinois,” as well as her various protectors, husbands, and benefactors along the way until she reached the pinnacle of Southhampton, Long Island.

Now TheatreWorks New Milford has chosen Little Me as this year’s summer musical, making it a showcase for the well-known skills of director-choreographer Bradford Blake and musical-comic star Susan Pettibone. These two are exceedingly well matched by the comedic gifts of newcomer (to TheatreWorks) John Ozerhoski, who plays the insufferably noble Noble, as well as the mean-spirited octogenarian banker Pinchley, the French entertainer Val du Val, the simple farmer-doughboy Fred Potrine, the hard driving European movie director Otto Schnitzler, and the languishing Mittel-European prince Cherney, all of whom contribute to Belle’s acquisition of wealth, culture and social position – the lack of which have made it impossible for Nobel to marry her.

With all this talent, the show is a hoot.

Backed up by a charming 13-person ensemble, who manage to switch effortlessly from Long Island socialites to snotty rich kids to downtrodden poor folk to nightclub patrons to doughboys to a Hollywood film crew to Middle European folk dancers to sailors on the doomed Gigantic, this show is primarily a series of comic skits that rely on sharp timing and continual costume changes that feature the work of Lesley Neilson-Bowman.

As always, Ms Pettibone has a magnificent voice that serves her well in more than a dozen musical numbers. She is equally matched in Mr Ozerhoski, who is as good a singer as he is an actor.

Paula Anderson, who plays the mothers of both Belle and Noble, Missy Slaymaker-Hanlon as the girl Mrs Eggleston has picked for her son to marry, Jeff Tuohy (last year’s Bat Boy) as George Musgrove, the tough kid who carries a torch for Belle, Jonathan Ross as Patrick Dennis and a MacArthur-like General, Brian DeToma and Richard Pettibone as the Buchsbaum brothers, who feature Belle in a series of supremely awful movie epics, all round out the cast.

Silly, campy, fast-paced and uproariously funny, with great music and delightful dancing, Little Me is sheer entertainment that deserves the packed houses it will undoubtedly receive.

(Performances continue weekends through August 14. Call TheatreWorks’ box office at 860-350-6863 for details or reservations.)