Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Times
Wednesday, January 19, 1977, page 19 (of 31)
The page
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times/guide
Wednesday, January 19, 1977 TIMES/GUIDE 11
New American play Babe Ruth signed by heavenly league
BY NICK SPANOS Correspondent The Players Repertory Theatre, through a grant from the Ford Foundation, is presenting the world premiere of a new play, "The Immortals," by Louis Phillips. Slated to run through Feb. 6, the new satirical play merits both audience attention and local community support. A barely substantial satire on the nature of man, "Immortals" leaves you to believe Zeus has made a bet with Hades in which the future of the entire world is at stake over the outcome of a baseball game. Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth star for the American Heavenly League team, trying to overcome a 1.8 million game losing streak! Athena, goddess of wisdom and the arts, lends a helping but interfering hand. Meanwhile, Mars, god of war, backseat drives the National Heavenly League team as Mercury, ever speedy, delivers messages for Zeus and pizzas for Our Lady of Fatima Pizza Parlor. The performances match or best the material. Sarah Nall again delivers a spirited, yet finely balanced performance as Athena. Len Kadlubowski, on the other hand, as Gehrig, appears mannered and one-dimensional, less suited to this more stock role than he was in the Players' previous work, Shaw's "Arms and the Man." But Harold Bergman as Babe Ruth and Lawrence Bleier as Ruth's still living competitor sustain their roles with enough natural enthusiasm and energy to minimize the few writing lapses and excesses. Interim Artistic Director Philip Giberson, striving to lead the theatrical group through its financial difficulties, directed "The Immortals" earnestly. His grasp of the awkwardly wide stage is not as commanding as it should be; the distracting use of slides at the extreme sides of the theatre dissipates his central point of focus. Len Kadlubowski plays Lou Gehrig (left), High Bennett is Hades and Harold Bergman is Babe Ruth, ready to bat for the American Heavenly League. Berenice Clayre in "The Immortals"
inside
Like mother, like daughter Page 29 Enjoy, enjoy - in South Dade Page 29 On Danny and drama Page 12