'Spitfire Grill' is cookin' with fine songs, talent

THE SPITFIRE GRILL, Grand Theatre, Salt Lake Community College South City campus, through May 20 (957-3322). Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes (one intermission).

The Grand Theatre had a "dream cast" a couple of years ago with "Morning's at Seven." They've succeeded again with this joyous, uplifting musical version of "The Spitfire Grill," with Anne Cullimore Decker — who was in the former — now playing cafe owner Hannah Ferguson, who's something of a spitfire herself.

I never realized just how loosely James Valcq and the late Fred Alley's stage musical is based on Lee David Zlotoff's acclaimed 1996 film until I saw the movie just a couple of weeks ago. Now I understand why folks who've never seen the movie love the stage version, but those who've seen the film aren't all that pleased with how it was transferred to the stage.

Composer Valcq and lyricist Alley smooth over the darker edges of the film and give it a happy, upbeat ending. There are also far fewer characters (some of whom are composites of those in the film).

That said, director Toni Byrd does, indeed, have a superb cast of strong singers and actors who are more than up to the task of delivering the song- and lyric-driven story of hope and redemption in a small Wisconsin town, where Ferguson's Spitfire Grill is pretty much the gathering place.

The songs have a catchy, insightful "folk song" edge.

Brittany Taylor Klintworth as Perchance "Percy" Talbot, paroled from prison and alighting in Gilead (where "the queen of TV Dinners" ends up being the cafe's cook) and Anne Decker, as her feisty boss, are terrific. Both women have lost sons — Percy an unborn infant and Hannah in Vietnam.

Percy changes Hannah's life as well as the lives of those around them.

There are also fine performances from R. Jacob Miskimins as Sheriff Joe Sutter, who evolves into more than Percy's parole officer; Shawn Maxfield as Caleb Thorpe, Hannah's angry nephew; Breanna Bassett as Shelby, Caleb's depressed wife; Betsy West as Effy Krayneck, Gilead's postmistress and hilarious town gossip; and Mark Schulz as a mysterious, nocturnal Visitor.

Kevin Mathie's small, folksy backstage orchestra provides the perfect accompaniment, along with Marnie Sears' backwoods stage setting and Jen Zornow's effective lighting (especially as the time shifts from the drab grays of winter into the warm, healing hues of spring).

This "Spitfire Grill" doesn't follow all the intensely dark twists and turns of the movie, but it stands well on its own as an engaging musical with a pleasant, beautiful score.

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E-mail: ivan@desnews.com