JOPLIN, Mo. —
Chet Fritz admits that he may be one of the few who remember the mysteries of Bob Hope, who made fun of Sam Spade and other mysteries of the ’40s.
Harry Monday is in that vein, he said.
“There are corny gags, and the audience sees them coming,” Fritz said. “But they are still funny.”
And younger actors are getting in on the joke, said Fritz, director of the latest production at Joplin Little Theatre.
“If it’s Monday, it Must Be Christmas” is the fifth play in the inaccurately named trilogy by Pat Cook. Joplin Little Theatre is hosting the production until Sunday of this week.
The play features the inept-yet-effective gumshoe Harry Monday, played by Todd Landis, who has tackled the role for all of JLT’s “Monday” productions. The cast includes two children, who haven’t entered their teen years, having a ball with the script, Fritz said.
“They really don’t know about what’s going on (with the play’s satire),” Fritz said. “But they are having a good time. Both of them have been raised in the theater.”
Fritz said the cast includes kids whose parents are also in the production. David Green, the son of Lisa and Greg Green (both cast members), and Emma Eckhardt, daughter of Karen Eckhardt, take on roles. Other family members on stage include Cheyla Navarre and her daughter, Shanti Navarre.
Other cast members include Gina Robbins, Bill Welsh, Kevin Nolte, Betsy Berueda and Tony Flint.
JLT has done several of the Harry Monday plays. The plays are entertaining -- especially for Loudis, Fritz said.
“He gets a lot of himself into Harry Monday,” Fritz said. “And he has a lot of fun doing it.”
That’s the ultimate joy Fritz gets from the production, he said. Especially with the play’s younger actors, he enjoys watching actors make characters their own.
“The more they can get of a real person into a character, the more I like it,” Fritz said. “When the person is the character, they have a lot of themselves in it. That’s rewarding to me.
Want to go?
The holiday play will run until Dec. 19 at Joplin Little Theatre. Showtime today and Saturday is at 7:30 p.m., and at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. A pre-show tea will be held Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Details, tickets: 417-623-3638.
Lifestyles
Related Photos
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Todd Loudis (left) and Greg Green rehearse a scene from "If it's Monday, it Must Be Christmas." Globe | Garry Jeffries
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JLT performs a merry mystery
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