It’s not a secret anymore— the Saint Louis University theater department’s production of “The Secret In The Wings” was an impressive success.
The play was simply fantastic, and a Mary Zimmerman piece was the best way to open up a new season. Zimmerman has the ability to recreate stories everyone knows and make them fresh.
The story line follows a naïve little girl named Heidi (freshman Elizabeth Meinders) as she listens to fairy tales told by an ogre, Mr. Fitzpatrick (senior Paul Lewellyn). The stories come to life before her- and they twist and intertwine around the framework of the beloved Disney classic “Beauty and the Beast.”
The blending of comedy and macabre in the piece allows it to appeal to many viewers, while also revealing the genius in the performance. The most impressive aspects of the University’s production were the performances of the ensemble as a whole. Great care was given to synchronization, timing and stage chemistry. The three comedic princes (junior Joseph Denk, and freshmen Kevin Lusk and Joey Sminchak), for example, had perfect timing not just with their line delivery, but also with their physical acting.
The visuals were also very interesting to watch. There was a lot of miming and symbolic use of props. The beheading of the princess who would not laugh by the suitors was creative, using balls and dunce caps to symbolize decapitation, as was the wicked infants being eaten by the blind queens and the haunting bucket of sand and bones.
Another great part of the show was the impressive vocals of the entire cast. The show spotlighted the blind queens, who sang a very heavy and chilling melody. At times in the play, as in the story told about the swan sons, things seemed to move very slowly, but that was overshadowed by the expert use of voice-over vocals to add to the desperate mood of the tale.
The tech work in “The Secret In The Wings” was phenomenal. The stage, designed by faculty member Mark Wilson, was expertly crafted to provide a blank slate upon which the fairy tales were to be painted, while still maintaining the cold and dank basement we know it to be. The television on stage right even showed the classic 1946 film “La Belle et La Bête,” a personal touch that, for those who are “in the know,” is an amazing surprise.
The costumes had to be made to easily throw on and off because of the nature of the show. This usually causes costumes to look incomplete or bland, but costume designer Lou Bird successfully made each costume look unique and complete, breaking the audiences’ connection of one actor to several different characters.
Overall, the production of Zimmerman’s “The Secret In The Wings” was an event not to be missed. Though the subject matter may have left viewers questioning Zimmerman’s sanity, it will leave a lasting effect.
