‘Race’ will leave children with sense of awe

There's a delicacy, a gentleness to director Toni Molloy-Tudor's approach to the Rainbow Company production of "The Great Cross-Country Race" that gives depth to this light comedy.

Alan Broadhurst's script offers the racing adventures between a slow tortoise (Kyra Lehtinen) and a fast-moving but foolish hare (Jeremy Boone). Guess who wins.

We see the action strictly from the viewpoint of a group of animals: a dog (Delancey Prince), a squirrel (Christine Moore) a badger (Devin Bozzelli) and a slew of others. When humans appear, they talk gibberish so that we, just like the animals, are able to judge what is being said only by tone.

The director establishes just the right sort of atmosphere. Much of the fun is in witnessing how costumers Tara O'Donoghue and Victoria Shaffer suggest the creatures' appearance. The designs are easy to interpret, but they're not literal. They feel as if a child dreamed them.

The stage has an appealing, storybook look, which makes sense since designer Kris Van Riper based his colorful set on Betsy Lewin's simple illustrations in "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type." But the set works so well mainly because the actors seem to "own" it. The performance style is slightly heightened realism, which makes us feel that we are really inside the action of another world.

Molloy-Tudor stuffs the show with enough chase scenes in the aisles to keep youngsters happy. (You can sense the awe children feel when they are inches away from a costumed actor.) And Joe Cottone tops off the fantasy as a pianist who carries on conversations with the characters.

Boone is the production's backbone. He has great command of his tall and lean body, and a no-nonsense way with dialogue. He doesn't overdo the vanity. He comes across as the sort of braggart we've all met in grammar school. The show's pulse quickens whenever he's onstage.

Mary Alice Brunod-Burack turns up in a hilarious cameo as a near-sighted homemaker (she unknowingly hangs the hare on a clothesline), and Chelsee Bergen and Zach Mami provide a brief, lyrical interlude as a courting couple whose behavior baffles the park residents.

This isn't a major production by any means. But it's a pleasant romp through the world of beautifully overscaled color and cartoonish behavior. It may remind you of the joy you had as a youngster when you were just beginning to learn to read.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.