Every once in a while, a play comes along that really makes you 
think.  "Skin Of Our Teeth", Thornton WIlder's Pulitzer Prize-winner 
(in what must have been a VERY slow year for plays), now playing at 
GCP, is one such play.  Specifically, it made me think words to the
effect of, "What the *hell* is going on here?"

The play, as far as I can tell, is about the Antrobus family, who are 
not so much a family as they are an abstraction of humanity.  A sort 
of Everyman of human history and evolution, if you will.  Or maybe 
they're just a bunch of typical schmucks from Jersey.  I don't think 
I was able to fully grasp the potential meaning of the play because I 
was not under the influence of various illegal substances at the time 
I viewed it.

The show claims to be a "comedy", but I couldn't detect a single 
trace of humor anywhere, even in the parts that seemed like they were 
supposed to be funny.  It's hard to tell whether this is because of 
bad direction or just a bad script.  The play in its entirety is clearly 
supposed to be a satire of human nature, but it just doesn't play.  
You don't get the sense that the actors are playing it as a satire, 
so it doesn't work.  And the lines themselves aren't inherently funny 
for the most part, so it's impossible to just deadpan through them 
and get comedy out of it, a la Leslie Nielsen.

I'd give you a plot recap at this point, but there are 2 problems:
1.  I don't remember what the plot was.
2.  I don't think there actually was one.
Pretty much all I remember is that the most likeable characters were 
the dinosaur and the mammoth, and they were killed off in Act One.
The play just went downhill from there.  No, actually, it went into a 
sinkhole, because 'downhill' implies that there was an 'uphill' at 
some point, and there really wasn't.....

Although the production wasn't all bad.  There were several very nice 
performances..... 

Susan Cristophy as Maggie Antrobus does a very nice 
job and tries her best to carry the show, but 3 dozen freight trains 
with booster rockets couldn't carry this show.

My favorite performance of the evening was turned in by Rachel 
Moulton as Gladys.  Like Shannon Wright in "George M!", Rachel's 
facial expressions are a show all by themself.

Alex Braddy is very good as the Fortune Teller, although a lot of the 
time I wasn't sure if she was taking dramatic pauses or trying to 
remember her lines.

Tequila Brooks as Sabina the Maid does pretty well, but could've been 
a little stronger.  The parts when she steps out of character to do 
her little stand up routine about how the play sucks aren't very 
convincing, because she doesn't seem to step far enough out of her 
character (or she doesn't go into her character enough to begin 
with).

Robert Brown as George Antrobus gives a solid, but somewhat 
uninspired, performance

Aaron Kirkpatrick as Henry Antrobus does just fine, but I'm still 
trying to figure out why the directors cast him and not Ken Foote for 
this part.  It's kind of like letting your utility infielder bat 
clean-up while you send Ken Griffey Jr. down to the 7-11 to pick up 
some more ice for the cooler......


MISCELLANY

-I'm still trying to figure out what I thought of the set.  Probably 
because I'm still waiting for the rest of it to be built.  The 
collapsing (well, okay, LEANING) wall was nice, but why worry about 
one wall falling down when the whole rest of your house has 3-foot 
gaps with no walls at all.

-I don't know who painted the booths for the carnival scene, but they 
really could stand to be jazzed up a bit.

-I don't know about GCP's new halftime refreshment policy either.  
It's a better idea than the old system, but they could probably stand 
a bit more variety in the way of food and drink.  I'd rather pay my 
dollar and load up on Oreos than get a packaged Rice Krispie Treat 
(tm).

-The program cover for the show was designed by one "Cristine 
Antalak".  Our researchers are currently studying what that name can 
be anagrammed into.

-Helping with set construction, according to the program, was someone 
named "Penelope Scordalakes".  I think they got that from the Random 
Wench-Name Generator(tm), and stuck it in the program to see if 
anyone was paying attention.  Also helping on the set was Connor 
Button, who mostly operated the circular saw.

-I don't know what the exact box office numbers are for this show, 
but they've got to be the lowest in a long time, even for a straight 
show.  I'm a little surprised that this show was approved by the GCP 
board in the first place, because you could've seen a low box office 
for this show coming from a mile away.  A no-name, intellectual 
straight show?  Isn't that what the ART is for???

FINAL ANALYSIS

I have to give this production a thumbs down.  The few good 
individual performances don't make up for the overall feeling of 
confusion and total lack of humor.  If you do go, a good way to keep 
yourself entertained is to count the audience at the beginning of 
each act, and calculate the "audience shrinkage" factor as the play 
goes on.



-john