Theater Review: A Little Journey

Samantha Soule and Laurie Birmingham. Photo: Richard Termine

A Little Journey Literally and Figuratively

By Lauren Yarger

The Mint Theater Company continues to revive long-lost gems in its intimate Off-Broadway site and Rachel Crothers’ A Little Journey is no exception.

This play from one of America’s most prolific early 20th-century playwrights (30 of her plays opened on Broadway between 1906 and 1937) was a nominee for the first Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1918. Set in 1914, it follows the interactions of travelers in a first-class Pullman train sleeper car, in which the first two acts take place – no easy production task, even in 2011.

The design team is up to the challenge, however, as lighting and sound (Paul Whitaker and Jane Shaw) enhance a carousel-like car design (Roger Hanna) which rotates periodically to simulate the motion of the train and gives Director Jackson Gay nice angles to plot the action. One moment, a couple in conversation arrive in their berth front and center; the next, a group of eavesdroppers in another part of the train laugh across the void. It’s all very clever.

The story revolves (no pun intended) around society girl Julie Rutherford (Samantha Soule), who finds herself destitute and put out by the aunt who has raised her. She refuses the hand of suitor Alfred Bemis (John Wernke) because he doesn’t provide enough of an income, or true love, and in despair, she heads to her estranged brother in Montana aboard the train. (In a tip of the hat to old fashioned plays written before money was such an issue for a production and doubling of actors’ roles became more common, Wernke and two actresses playing society friends of Julie’s are in the play for only a few minutes of the first act and are not seen again).

Free-spirited Jim West (McCaleb Burnett), headed home to Montana, pays for uptight Julie’s ticket when hers turns up lost, and a train-board friendship develops over four days. Keeping tabs on them are the other passengers: the pompous and demanding Mrs. Welch (Laurie Birmingham, who enjoys getting into the humorous part); young Lily (Chet Siegal) who is traveling with her near-deaf grandmother Mrs. Bay (Rosemary Prinz – some will remember her as Penny on the soap “As the World Turns”), two college students, Frank and Charles (Ben Hollandsworth and Ben Roberts); pants salesman Leo Stern (Craig Wroe), rich and pompous Mr. Smith (Douglas Rees), who gives Mrs. Welch a run for her money in the most demanding competition; Annie (Jennifer Blood), traveling alone and trying to care for her infant; and finally the porter (Anthony L. Gaskins), who takes care of all their needs. (Rees does the only doubling in the cast, also playing the conductor).

The trip takes an unexpected turn (again, no pun intended) and the folks find that a new outlook and a journey of character may take them to a new destination in life.

Some parts of the third act seem a little disjointed and the whole feels a little dated (though Martha Hally’s period costumes keep us tuned in to the era), but overall, A Little Journey is charming and holds up well over the years (it apparently hasn't been seen on stage since the 1930s following a 1927 silent film version which has been lost). Crothers apparently called the piece as a comedy, and while it probably wouldn’t be classified as such by modern standards, there is a lot of good humor in this play.

A Little Journey runs at the Mint, Third Floor of 311 West 43rd St., NYC, through July 10. Tickets are $55. All performances will take place on the Third Floor of 311 West 43rd Street. Tickets are available by calling the Mint box office at 212/315-0231 or go to http://www.minttheater.org/.

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