Review of 'Walter Cronkite is Dead' at Farmington Valley Stage Co

Pictured above: Dianna Waller (at left) as Patty with Cathy Annulli as Margaret in WALTER CRONKITE IS DEAD at FVSC

Dedicated to my sister Christine and all flight attendants

Collinsville, CT - Farmington Valley Stage Company is located in Collinsville, CT, which I discovered is a village of Canton when my GPS could not locate my destination. I was invited to attend the penultimate performance for a review at the end of the production’s two-week run.

The play WALTER CRONKITE IS DEAD was written by Joe Calarco in response to the tragedy of 9/11. It is firmly set in a bar at Reagan National Airport just outside of Washington, D.C in Sept. 2010. Weather halts all flights indefinitely and all the bars are filling up fast. One quiet east coast liberal (played by Cathy Annulli) sits alone at the last remaining table, just wanting to sip her wine in silence. Enter one friendly southern conservative (brought to life by Dianna Waller) just looking for somewhere to sit, sip her Coke and have a good chat. Conversation is difficult at first for this pair that have little common ground….until something uncommon happens. The show runs 90 minutes without an intermission.

"It’s hard to demonize someone once you’ve heard their story.” - Playwright Joe Calarco

I found the conversation of the two women to be very frank, incredibly revealing and surprisingly funny at times. The premise of the play is to show what might be possible if people from opposite sides of the political aisle would stop shouting and take time to listen to each other. Because I was not familiar with this work, I spent the first half enjoying the conversation between two characters that were simply different. Once their opposite political views were revealed, it brought the social relevance up a notch. Looking back upon the performance, I probably should have notice red/blue states on the program cover, but it did not lessen my appreciation of the production.

To explain the title, Walter Cronkite was called the most trusted man in American in the 1960s and 1970s. Dramaturg Constance Marlowe writes in the program that he was the CBS anchorman who gained respect for excellence, accuracy and fairness in news reporting. “When Walter Cronkite died, it seems he took truth and elegance with him.” His death is mentioned early in the work and both women miss his presence.

Simsbury resident Rosemarie Beskind (GOD OF CARNAGE, MORNINGS AT SEVEN with FVSC) directed what she calls “the quirky play” with a steady hand and helped the ladies convincingly maintain their roles. Ms. Marlowe assisted her. Producer Doreen Cohn has been involved in theater in CT for well over 35 years and gave an informative curtain speech to the Saturday evening audience.

Dianna Waller of Winsted/Southbury returned to the venue playing the mother of the groom in last season’s IT SHOULDA BEEN YOU. Ms. Waller is currently directing the upcoming HONEYMOON IN VEGAS with The Theatre Guild of Simsbury and calls the role of Mrs. Van Daan in THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK with Landmark Community Theatre her most meaningful to date. She brought life and charm to the role of Patty, the modern southern mother of grown children. The comic touches of drinking a bottle of water and a bottle of Coke at the same time made us smile.

Catherine Annulli (ALMOST MAINE at Community Theatre at Woodbury) traveled from Thomaston to play the role of the liberal Margaret, a mother of four grown children living in Washington. She did well in her FVSC debut with getting her character from a reserved lady to revealing her deepest secrets, especially her deep-seated fear of flying.

Ken Jones designed the authentic airport bar set and Dian Pomeranz took care of props and set dressing. Cindy Braunlich did well with the costume design, as well as the hair and makeup; I appreciated that the final wig for Ms. Waller was better than the one that appeared in promotional photos. I recognized the voice of Jim Woods, Ms. Waller’s other half who sat right in the row at this performance, as the airport announcer.

Thank you to the production team for allowing me to attend at the end of the run of this show. I hope to return to this venue for some of their upcoming seventh season, which includes SCROOGE, a one-man performance of the classic Dicken’s novel by a CT author, INCENDIARY by Adam Szymkowicz, THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, and NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY, a musical in the key of murder with only five actors. Farmington Valley Stage Company in Collinsville, CT. http://www fvstage.org

Nancy Sasso Janis has been writing theatre reviews since 2012 as a way to support local theatre venues. She posts reviews of well over 100 productions each year. In 2016, she became a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle.She continues to contribute theatre news, previews, and audition notices to local Patch sites. Reviews of all levels of theatrical productions are posted on Naugatuck Patch and the Patch sites closest to the venue. Follow the reviewer on her Facebook pages Nancy Sasso Janis: Theatre Reviewer and on Twitter @nancysjanis417 Check out the NEW CCC Facebook pag