A beat-boxing donkey, a grape-obsessed fox, and a narcissistic peacock provide a modern twist to ancient tales in Glenelg Country School's premiere production of Aesop's Foibles.
Collaborators Carole Graham Lehan and Tom French created the original script and score for Aesop's Foibles, inspired by the well-known collection of stories, Aesop's Fables. This farcical musical follows the story of Thalia (Maeve Ricaurte), a fledgling muse sent to help Aesop fill a tome with his imaginative stories. As Aesop (Collin Lyons) struggles for inspiration, several fables, such as "The Tortoise and the Hare" and "The Fox and the Grapes," play out.
Glenelg Country presented Foibles with professional attention to detail; the actors' intricate masks and makeup, along with their lifelike embodiment of animals, created an exotic world.
Ricaurte maximized her character's potential as the amusing muse. Brimming with enthusiasm, she danced and sang scat with ease. Along with choreographing Foibles, Emma Murphy played the role of Terpsi, the muse of dance, who twirled across the stage with delicacy and poise while at the same time taunting Thalia.
A clear favorite, Tortoise (Forrest Walterhoefer), tread slowly across the stage with comical precision and perfect delivery. Upon finishing the race, he received uproarious applause. His quick competitor, Hare (Kelson McAuliffe), provided an equally entertaining character by use of his screechy whine and his comic shtick.
Despite the fact that most musicals prove difficult for sound operators, Erika Olney and Carolyn Savoldelli sailed smoothly with little trouble. Dustin Doloff's lighting design emphasized the mood of each scene, including the skirmish between the lion and the boxing ant, where particular skill was required to correlate the lights to the action of the actors.
Glenelg Country's cast members faced numerous challenges by choosing a full-scale workshop musical, and they made their mark as the original cast of Aesop's Foibles.
Margaret Erickson, a student at Long Reach High School, reviewed "Aesop's Foibles" for the Cappies of Baltimore, a program in which students review high school productions under the direction of their teachers and vote on awards for outstanding performances.
