In making his directing debut at the Evergreen Playhouse, Robert McKenzieSullivan has chosen a Christmas classic he's been looking to produce for about 10 years, and that has fascinated him since childhood.
Beginning Friday, McKenzieSullivan will bring "The Gifts of the Magi" to the stage of the Centralia community theater. The musical by Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts weaves together pieces of the 1906 O. Henry collection "The Four Million," of which "The Gift of the Magi" is one piece. That short story tells of a young couple struggling to make it in New York City, where jobs are scarce and hope is becoming even more hard to come by.
The story of Soapy the Bum is interwoven into that dramatic plot to add a bit of comic relief. The vagrant's failing attempts to get thrown into jail in order to have a roof over his head and three square meals is taken from "The Cop and the Anthem," which was also part of "The Four Million." Six actors play a total of about 24 characters in the musical, the two most complicated of which are the roles of City Him, which McKenzieSullivan fills, and City Her, who together portray the four million people in New York City.
"The narrator is the newspaper man at his newspaper stand, Willie Porter, which was O. Henry's real name," McKenzieSullivan added of Germain's use of various O. Henry themes. "So he's used O. Henry to tell the story."
Because the play includes acting, singing and dancing, McKenzieSullivan said, he had been waiting until he could find just the right cast to perform the piece. He said the Evergreen Playhouse had approached him about directing something there and he agreed, under the condition he could hand-pick his actors.
"I've had it on my shelf for probably about 10 years, and I said, 'Some time when I have a cast who can do this, I'll do it,' " McKenzieSullivan said. "I really have a collection of wonderful actors and singers."
Robert Rostad, 26, Winlock, and Liana Francisco, 23, Olympia, play the main characters from "Gift of the Magi," Jim and Della. They are a young couple in financial straits during their first holiday as a married couple each trying to decide how to make Christmas special for the other. Francisco is McKenzieSullivan's daughter in-law. When the director approached her about being Della, she said, she agreed on the condition that Rostad would play Jim. The two had worked on plays together in the past, and Francisco thought Rostad would be perfect. Rostad, who recently moved to the local area and who has a young son at home, took a little more convincing, but eventually gave in. The subject matter sold him on the commitment, he said.
"I'd never read O. Henry before, but I checked it out and liked it quite a bit," Rostad said. "I fell in love and bought the complete O. Henry. He's just a wonderful writer."
Francisco, a recent graduate with a degree in music, said the singing and dancing part has been a joy for her, but integrating acting was a challenge. Still, she said, it's been fun over the past three months, working out the performance with the rest of the cast.
"The music is so complicated, it's hard to keep the scene going," Francisco said. "But I'm excited about it."
Dancing was certainly the hardest part for Tim Butterfield, 41, Olympia, who plays Willie Porter. He got involved in "Gifts of the Magi" through McKenzieSullivan, who is his vocal coach. Though he was still working on his dancing at a recent dress rehearsal, Butterfield said he was proud of the show overall.
"This is the one show I've been in I totally do not have any qualms in urging my friends to come see it," Butterfield said. "It is great - a beautiful story."
Carrina Stanton is a feature reporter for The Chronicle. She may be reached at 807-8241, or by e-mail at cstanton@chronline.com.
