Jacob Lund and Sally Hamer in The Rainmaker
Playwright N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker took an unconventional road to the stage, debuting on The Philco Television Playhouse in 1953, before hitting Broadway the following year. Both productions featured Darren “the dad in A Christmas Story” McGavin as the happy-go-lucky title character, Starbuck. (Imagine that!) I first saw the show in 1978, with my high-school drama teacher Dave Watson as Starbuck. The script was 25 years old then; a verifiable antique to me. I saw Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's production this past Thursday – 48 years later. (I need to lie down for a moment now. Math is evil.)
Nash's play morphed into a movie starring Burt Lancaster in 1956, and a musical with a book by Nash, 110 in the Shade, in 1963. It's a fine story, and its current Richmond Hill Barn Theatre incarnation, directed by Joe DePauw, is a fine time. The seven actors are magnificently cast, and I believed they were their characters throughout, seemingly having stepped right out of the script. The perfectly suited look and demeanor of each person, and their consistent Southern lilts throughout, made this experience particularly magical.
The Rainmaker story is set during the 1930s' Dust Bowl era, when drought, heat, dry soil, and high winds brought illness, poverty, and death to about half the country. Imagine living on a ranch then – hot, thirsty, breathing dust, helpless to save your cattle – and a manic stranger walks into your house, promising to bring rain. A miracle pouring from the heavens, saving your family! For a price, of course.
Jacob Lund, one of my favorite area actors, plays the rainmaker, Starbuck – an appealing, effusive, fast-talking fireball. There's only one weapon missing from his confidence man's arsenal: a spellbinding aura, such as the one wielded by Harold Hill in The Music Man. But then, Hill had an entire town to convince about imaginary trouble; Starbuck has only a family of four, facing real disaster.
Patriarch H.C. Curry (Gary Talsky) is willing to be convinced. Bearing many burdens as the head of a wifeless household, he's fundamentally caring, yet handles his family's skirmishes with a no-nonsense air. H.C. is the antithesis of Richard, the crabby Irish inebriate Talsky played so wonderfully in The Seafarer at Richmond Hill in 2023, but the actor made me like both characters.
Every glower from H.C.'s son Noah (Gregory O'Neill) had me smiling in anticipation. His suspicious resentment and flashovers into rage were highly amusing when they were meant to be (this is billed as a “dramatic comedy”), but some of his remarks cut deep, as intended. This is the meatiest role I've seen O'Neill in, and I look forward to his next.
Noah's brother Jim (Ethan Sundeen) is a lovable sort; not the brightest bulb, but the actor's dialogue and reactions are well-executed and entertaining. Sundeen, a recent high-school grad, is as solidly believable on stage as his castmates. Slower speech and more careful enunciation would help the audience with comprehension, though I did understand most of his lines.
Lizzie (Sally Hamer) is the middle child, and the one the family is most concerned about. Why? She's not married, but the others aren't either. But at that time, women were considered weak and ignorant, and men had to provide for them. Lizzie brings shame as an “old maid,” which was such a crisis that her family sent her away to her uncle's place, to entice … . One of her cousins into romance? I think that's what was said. I'm hoping the guy is just an avuncular family friend, because otherwise. … . Ew.
Hamer has extensive stage experience and a BFA in acting from the University of Illinois, and is relatable and natural as Lizzie. File (Perin Royalty) is the local deputy, introspective and antisocial. His boss Sheriff Thomas (Alex Claus) clearly cares about him, but is also kind of a nag. Each has a distinctive presence, and makes the most of his brief, but impactful, stage time.
The Broadway audiences at The Rainmaker would've remembered how tough the Dust Bowl years were, but some of today's non-history-minded spectators – especially in Richmond Hill's comfortably air-conditioned theatre – need fodder for their imaginations. Therefore, I appreciated every wipe of a forehead with a bandana. There's a nifty old-fashioned Coca-Cola thermometer on the wall, too. Starbuck's sigh of relief after he takes off his hat, jacket, shirt, and boots before sleep was another good indication of the extreme heat.
However, when speaking of the dead and dying calves and heifers, the men's reactions tended toward “Aw darn” – not sorrow, despair, or anger. Maybe that was just a fumble at Thursday night's performance. There was also a recurring problem with the production's opening-night flow, as cue pick-ups were sometimes slow, possibly due to memorization glitches or nerves. The performance was a bit of a rough ride at times, but an overall pleasing one in which nothing was ruined by the gaffes. The Rainmaker is a compelling tale, and a good reminder that, despite our current crises, things have certainly been worse.
The Rainmaker runs at the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre (600 Robinson Drive, Geneseo IL) through June 14, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)944-2244 and visiting RHPlayers.com.
