Historic Palace Theatre In Cape Charles, Virginia
My husband, a friend and I spent a delightful Sunday afternoon last week at the historic Palace Theatre in Cape Charles, Virginia watching the matinee performance of ” The Two Mrs. Carrolls”. It was one of those cool, rainy, constant drizzle Sundays that usually make me feel like staying at home with a hot cup of tea, listening to The Splendid Table on NPR or thumbing through the latest Contessa or Mario Batali cookbook, wondering if there is a delicious recipe of less than five ingredients that can be whipped together in 15 minutes ( good luck with that ! ) . However, we had matinee tickets for the play and off we went, rain or no, to see the Mrs. Carrolls.
I was not familiar with that particular play, written by Martin Vale, but the playbill indicates that it is a film noir classic from 1947 and starred Hunphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck. A comic thriller set in the South of France, it revolves around a lovey-dovey, newly- wed English couple ( but the husband, an artist, has a roving eye ), the wife’s old flame who visits a lot, a beautiful young neighbor who also visits a lot and a very funny French housekeeper, Clemence , who can speak English but insists on speaking French throughout, sans peur et sans reproche, played with good comic effect by Susan Kovacs, a Blue Heron customer . The wife soon falls mysteriously ill and the play is off and running !
Bravo ! Take Another Bow !
Staged and directed by Sheila Cardano, whose daughter, Clelia Sheppard, is the Executive Director of Art’s Enter, the play came off wonderfully– the years of Sheila’s hard work and efforts to put together a talented local amateur theatre group and stage crew and to renovate the Palace Theatre have really paid off handsomely. The theatre, now fully restored, truly looks great. ( Years of fund raisers together with grants and donations have restored this lovely Art Deco building to its former 1940’s glory. Wow ! And you should see the seats now, comfy and beautifully re-covered, to the tune of hundreds of dollars each and the gorgeous golden wall murals. Before and after pictures really tell this amazing restoration story and illustrate how far the Palace Theatre and Art’s Enter have come in these last 15 years. ) On stage, the props and scenery looked great– so authentic, you felt like you really were in an artist’s home. Lots of well done lighting and sound effects too, especially the mistral wind, which blew on and off for much of Act 3.
Eva Takes The Lead Role And Dave Makes His Stage Debut
Best of all was the cast, who vividly brought this story to life. Consisting of nine amateur actors from various walks of life, including a recreational director, a vacation rental associate, three retirees, a real estate sales agent, a real estate broker, a Deputy Commissioner of the Revenue plus Clelia Sheppard, the Executive Director of Art’s Enter and one of the Eastern Shore’s great multi-taskers, this cast came together seamlessly to create the story’s realistic voice. It was an excellent performance, thoroughly enjoyed by the entire audience. I realize that I am biased but the three of us really loved seeing our two colleagues from the Blue Heron Realty Co. Cape Charles office , Eva Noonan and Dave Kabler ” do their thing” on-stage, both presented an accomplished performance, with Eva cast in the leading role of Sally Carroll. And so, to the entire cast, at the next performance go ahead and take an extra bow— you deserve it !