“˜Li’l Abner’ a blast from the past
By Lauren Schick
Feb. 4, 2008 9:03 p.m.
When Daisy Mae chased after Li’l Abner on the first Sadie Hawkins Day, it was unlikely anyone expected young women to still recall the comic strip event more than 70 years later.
Sadie Hawkins Day had its birth alongside Li’l Abner, Daisy Mae, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, and the other citizens of Dogpatch, USA, who lived comfortably in their newspaper comic strip at the hand of creator Al Capp from 1934 to 1977.
In 1937, Capp sparked the beginning of what would become an annual event in the “Li’l Abner” comic strip, and later the theme for dances across America. The cartoon father of an unwed daughter, Sadie, started Sadie Hawkins Day as a way to ensure his daughter would someday move out of his house by encouraging her and other single women in Dogpatch to compete in footraces in order to capture the men of their liking.
During the late 1950s, the cartoons ventured out into human bodies for two years in a popular musical on Broadway and a subsequent film.
The characters are back in the flesh in “Li’l Abner” beginning tonight for a 16-show run at the Freud Playhouse at UCLA as part of this season of Reprise! Broadway’s Best.
While the show has stayed almost entirely true to the original Broadway production based on the comic strip, audiences will find more modern connections than just Sadie Hawkins.
“When the show was first written, it was a satire of a lot of the things that Al Capp and the writers of the musical thought were wrong with our society, but a lot of the targets of the satire in 1956 are still relevant today,” said Michael Michetti, the show’s director. “There are many references to political corruption as well as the corruption of the power of big business which are obviously still relevant issues.”
The hillbilly citizens of Dogpatch struggle to keep their town from being obliterated by the government’s atomic bomb testing while simultaneously trying to discover what makes their town worth saving.
“The more (the characters) go on, you see that even though it’s a naive and backward town they live in, they still value their families and their lifestyle,” said Cathy Rigby, Tony Award nominee for her role in “Peter Pan” and Olympic gymnast, who plays the outspoken and no-nonsense Mammy Yokum. “There are lots of funny innuendoes that have to do with government and, while it really is a lot of tongue-and-cheek and over the top and very cartoon-like, there’s … moments where you can apply it to today’s world.”
But, transforming 2-D cartoons into 3-D actors on stage has proved to be a balancing act.
“I’m encouraging the actors to find the comic broadness and size of the characters that makes them feel like they adhere to the iconic models from the comic strip but still rooting their performances in a kind of truth,” Michetti said. “So even though the characters are bigger than life, they are feeling very human emotions and responding in very active kinds of human ways … making them characters that we care about rather than … simply two-dimensional.”
Rigby felt the pull between staying true to the characters and giving them human dimensions.
“There are moments where you’re truly over the top and it’s very cartoon-like but then there are … moments where you can play it with heart,” Rigby said. “We all know people in our lives who are huge characters but it’s real and (the characters) just have to have a point of view and be based in reality.”
Through the illusion of two-dimensional sets, exaggerated silhouettes and freezing characters in frames, “Li’l Abner” pays homage to its inception.
But, while the comic strip characters had more than four decades to develop, the “Li’l Abner” cast and crew has been moving with a much quicker time frame, rehearsing for only a little over a week.
Rigby credits the talented cast and crew with bringing the show together in such a short time, mastering all of the song-and-dance sequences, including a seven-minute Sadie Hawkins Day dance.
“I’ve worked with many, many casts and I’ve cast many shows and this is a really wonderful cast with an ensemble that is incredibly fearless and strong as dancers and singers,” Rigby said.
While the cast is serious about their work, the show is meant to be frivolously entertaining.
Michetti welcomes the change from his more daring projects as co-artistic director of The Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena.
“(Boston Court) does edgier, more risk-taking pieces, and I love that, but when I do freelance work, I like to do something different,” he said. “”˜Li’l Abner’ is just a fun, lighthearted musical.”
Michetti and Rigby hope this feeling reaches the audience as well.
“I hope (the audience members) have a great time. It’s not heavy, it’s not deep. It’s a way to turn off the news at night, and everything else that’s going on, and just have a fabulous time,” Rigby said. “It’s going back in time to an age that was more innocent and naive. It’s a good way to get away.”
