SABRINA FAIR at Ross Valley Players

From L to R: Barbara Van Demeer (Aunt Julie), Cary Cronholm (Sabrina), Robyn Wiley (Maude Larrabee) and Stephen Gustavson (David Larrabee) admire the Cockatoo bird in Act 1 of Sabrina Fair.

SABRINA FAIR by Samuel Taylor, directed by Michael Paul Pulizzano. Ross Valley Players Barn Theatre, Marin Art & Garden Center, 30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. at Lagunitas, Ross, CA. 415-456-9555 or www.rossvalleyplayers.com.November 7 to December 7, 2008.

NEW FACES/VOICES SPARKLE IN “SABRINA FAIR”

For the 2^nd production of Ross Valley Players (RVP) 2008/2009 season they have acquired two new top-notch actors, a new director and the services of a superb scenic designer. With these additions to the very competent list of seasoned veterans, RVP’s opening of “Sabrina Fair” is a show that will tickle the cockles of your heart.

Many of you will remember the 1954 movie version directed by Billy Wilder, titled simply “Sabrina”, starring Audrey Hepburn, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart. Put aside any comparisons and your expectations and thoroughly enjoy newcomer Cary Cronholm in the lead role of Sabrina. She worked at Chicago’s Second City and Steppenwolf after graduating from A.C.T. training program and is a bundle of energy, with an expressive voice. Her non-verbal responses while being discussed by Maude (Robyn Wiley) and Linus Sr. (Tom Reilly) are a joy watch. The other newcomer, Tom Reilly, steals many of the scenes with his perfect depiction of the pompous Linus Sr. garnering most of the laughs with his one line zingers without once stepping out of character.

“Sabrina Fair” is a love story, social commentary on the dichotomy of the rich and those whom they employ and the emerging equalization of male-female relationships. Don’t allow the last sentence to deter your attendance since there is a happy fairy tale ending relatively specific to time and place. It is 1952, the estate of the Larrabee family on the exclusive North Shore of Long Island, about an hour from New York City.

Sabrina is the daughter of the loyal Larrabee chauffeur Tom Fairchild (John Anthony Nolan) whom the Larrabee family addresses only as “Fairchild.” Sabrina has just returned after three years in Paris where she has blossomed from an energetic tween into an independent woman of beauty, charm and sophistication with great enthusiasm for life. Her return sets up a chain of events that involve all the Larrabees. There is Linus Sr. an ostentatious business tycoon (“It’s a shame not to own the things we can afford.”) and his oldest son Linus Jr. a cynical workaholic obsessed with power and wealth. Recently divorced younger brother David (Stephen Gustavson) is a true romantic but is controlled by his mother Maude who defends her social status with the will of a lioness. Aunt Julie (Barbara Van Dermeer) a successful magazine editor, recuperating from a surgical procedure, enjoys being on the estate where “there are more servants than people.”

Sabrina, leaving a wealthy suitor behind in France, returns to test her unrequited love for David. David’s disclosure to marry Sabrina is met with consternation by his parents; especially Maude who staunchly proclaims that servants should remain in their places. Another obstacle expressed by Linus Sr. is the expected notoriety and “How could you marry a woman without money?” David’s reply “But I love her” is hardly adequate.

Sabrina discovers that her love for David was only a young girl’s fancy and she is drawn to Linus Jr. with his intellectual views of male/female relationships in general and marriage in particular. The remaining obstacle preventing a union between Sabrina and Linus Jr. is their financial breach. It is revealed that Sabrina's father has amassed a fortune on the stock market over the past decades by buying General Motors stock and selling out before the 1929 stock market crash, then reinvesting in Larrabee Industries. Sabrina is now a financial, as well as an intellectual equal. The fairy tale has a mostly happy ending.

John Anthony Nolan as chauffer Fairchild can be considered the deus ex machina with his droll tale of how he amassed his millions bringing spontaneous appreciative laughter. Statuesque Robyn Wiley as the rigid matriarch starts out slowly with her lengthy first act monolog but has complete control of stage in the later acts. The remainder of the cast performs adequately without distinction.

Last but not least, scenic David Apple has created a marvelous set of the garden patio, huge French doors enclosing the party room and a spiral iron staircase leading to the Fairchild quarters above the garage. It exudes wealth and allows director Michael Paul Pulizzano to move his characters gracefully about the entire stage in choreographic fashion.

Running time is a little over two hour with two intermissions.

Kedar K. Adour, MD

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