‘Anyone Can Whistle’ musical takes stage at St. David’s

For two nights only, a church altar will transform to tell the story about a mayoress who fakes a miracle in order to revitalize a town drowned in bankruptcy. “Anyone Can Whistle,” one of well-acclaimed composer Stephen Sondheim’s first shows, will run its final show in Syracuse on Sunday at 2 p.m. at St. David’s Episcopal Church.

Featuring a small cast and group of musicians, this production, under the direction of Abel Searor, will showcase a story that many are unfamiliar with. Being one of the few in the world licensed to produce the show, this group is looking forward to sharing a story that has a noteworthy score and openly pokes fun at everything we hold dear, said Searor.

“It’s a great opportunity to see a show that people don’t know and don’t know what to expect, and that’s not something we have very often,” he said.

“Anyone Can Whistle,” though a cult classic in the theater world, was one of Sondheim’s least successful shows. It ran on Broadway for nine performances before it closed after one week. Stage manager Elizabeth Allers said because of its plot and themes that go in a number of directions, it’s thought of as one of Sondheim’s more experimental shows.

However, the plot is exactly why Searor holds the play close to his heart. He said he was drawn to the ridiculousness and sense of humanity in the story.

“It will be something people can honestly look at and enjoy and laugh. It is funny. We should and can laugh at ourselves. It’s a chance to do that,” Searor said.

The plot revolves around a broken-down town and their successful “cookie jar,” or what they call their mental hospital. The people who reside in the institution are known as non-conformists, many there on their own choosing to live outside of their corrupt society. Meanwhile, the mayoress fools the town with a fake miracle in order to bring in a stream of curious tourists and revenue. Throughout the show, characters outside the hospital are forced to question just how different they really are from those inside.

“Anyone Can Whistle” is performed inside St. David’s Episcopal Church. Courtesy of Wendy Flynn

The show is a part of St. David’s Celebration of the Arts, a week-long event of visual and performing arts showcased at the church, and the group producing the show is not tied to a specific theater company.

“It’s just kind of a combination of people we knew and who wanted to work on this with us,” Allers said. “Then there are a couple people who are friends with those people.”

Searor, director of the show, said that one of the reasons the show didn’t do well on Broadway is because it was expensive to produce, citing the need of a huge set, a large number of cast members and dancers and a full ensemble of vocalists. However, for the purposes of community theater, they’ve scaled it down and made it work with the small space they have at St David’s using creativity.

“It’s not a conventional theater space, but that’s what makes it so much fun. You have to become the most creative person in the world to figure out how to stage things,” said actor Liam Fitzpatrick, who is playing one of the main characters.

Fitzpatrick said that this is the perfect show for the small space they are working with because they want to make the audience feel like they are a part of the story. There are many times in which the fourth wall is broken, he said.

“This show in particular is very personal, very raw once you really get down to what it’s saying about humanity,” Fitzpatrick said.