Pecos Bill and Slue-Foot Sue Meet the Dirty Dan Gang
By Tim Kelly
Directed by Lorrain “Mimi” Partria
Starring Silas Tamulonis, Gina DiGiovanni and Zari Davidsun
Mimi’s Community Theater
Winter Garden Masonic Lodge
Winter Garden, FL
This may be a kid’s show, but dang it, they put a live horse on stage! You know what they say about working with children or animals; here we had both and nothing bad happened. “Pecos Bill…etc….” is a cute, straightforward comedy that aims more for laughs than cliff hanging drama. Prairie Dog is a small, dusty town, and Dirty Dan (Davidsun) uses that to his advantage: he never baths, and never drinks water. He and his gang (more like a trio, really) hang out, plot evil plots, and exude body odor. Tonight, their aim is to steal Granny’s (Karina Guerra) small cabin believing there’s a treasure under it. It’s up to rollicking Pecos Bill (Tamulonis) and his best girls Sue (DiGiovanni) to save the day. It’s pretty easy, really. They hook up with Clever Coyote (Terran Davidson) and Blue Duck, the Native American guide and deflect the bad guys who are suitably punished but not killed off. After, this is for children, and there might be a sequel if it catches on. And as for the incredibly docile horse; no one rides it, but it does walk around in cute horsey sneakers.
The acting may not be too subtle, but this story doesn’t demand that sort of finesse. Everybody shouts their lines with gusto, both Pecos and Dan are rather short but swagger well, and Sue has some nascent tumbling skills. A few voices need some power boost, but the space is small and acoustically clean. Our cast aims at the larger elements of comic acting, but Mr. Coyote did get applause for his frolicking and nipping after bad guys. Fun is the key word here; and like the old serials this script pays homage to, we are not here to be surprised, we are hearing to cheer the good and boo the evil. It should be a fun cast party.
