Article: 9536; Posted: April 4, 2015 at 9:30 a.m.

A play, let alone a musical, with an all-too-obvious homily attached to it, has a great deal of potential to descend into pools of syrup and bouquets of wilting wild-flowers. The script of “Violet” has, indeed, long skated the razor’s edge between saccharine and a show of real heart. But the tight ensemble at The Dio Theater in Pinckney keeps the Brian Crawley/Jeanine Tesori play very much grounded while allowing performances to soar when they need to.

“Violet,” set in 1964, is the story of a 25-year old woman from the mountains of North Carolina whose face was disfigured by her father with the blade of a hatchet when she was thirteen. Her father dead–but appearing throughout the play in flashback– Violet takes the bus to Tulsa where she hopes, after doctors have failed her, that a preacher/healer has the right powers to remove the scar that curses her self image. Along the trip she meets and becomes involved with two soldiers—one white and one African American who toy with her affections at first, but then form emotional attachments.

Playing the title role is Mahalia Greenway, who is becoming a pleasant fixture at both the Dio and Encore Theatre in Dexter–from Nancy in Oliver (2014 Wilde Award winner) to Lucy in Dracula and Carrie in Carousel and more in just the last year. Her Violet is world-weary-wise, but with just enough of the Smokey Mountain gullibility it takes to think a television preacher will remove the scar that disfigures her face. Greenway’s vocals are appropriately gritty at times, and winsome when she needs to be. In fact, her performance rises above some of the shortcoming in the show’s writing.

“Violet” doesn’t really have a song that stays in one’s head for long, but that is not a weakness. A combination of gospel, bittersweet ballads and country rhythms, the totality of score works very much in support of the whole show and story. Musical direction is by Daniel Bachelis. And Thalia Schramm directed the musical staging, which delivers extremely well given the many role changes for the actors and the unchanging set. The simple set, by Matthew Tomich, is fixed throughout the show with no physical changes save some clever projections that change the context, for example, from bus station to evangelical church.

Steve DeBruyne (2014 Wilde Award winner) directs, and also plays Monty, the soldier who tinkers with Violet’s situation and affections and can’t really commit to anything except lack of commitment. He has cast the rest of the characters extremely well—the chemistry between actors are very much in evidence. Luther Raphael Simon as the African-American “Flick” establishes heartfelt connections to Greenway’s Violet, and shows his excellent singing chops on the roof-raising “Let It Sing,” and the tender “Promise Me Violet” reprise.

The flashbacks to young Violet (Maeve Donevan) and her father (Andrew Gorney) are seamlessly integrated into the small Dio stage. Donevan, a student at Dexter High School (who we saw, but is double-cast with Lily Rosenberg), is a force on stage with vocals and expressive acting that beautifully convey the pain, tenderness and desire to be loved that grip every teenage girl. Her scenes with the always-solid Gorney provide some of the show’s best scenes as in Father’s “That’s what I could do” as he tries to reconcile with young Violet.

An experienced ensemble playing multiple roles never disappoints, coming together beautifully on “Raise Me Up” and “On My Way.” Linda Rabin Hammell (a 2014 Wilde Award winner), Lauren Norris, Kirsten Crockett, Peter Crist and Jeff Steinhauer all deliver solid turns in each of their multiple roles.

For patrons who have never seen the show, it is a little puzzling that Violet has no scar—no make-up or appliance. She frequently refers to the terrible scar that cuts across her cheek and nose. Of course, the point of not showing it is that most others do not see the scar and are taken instead by her heart. The story is adapted from ”The Ugliest Pilgrim,” a short story by Doris Betts. You can’t miss the sledge-hammer message of “beauty is only skin deep.” But as that is as evergreen a message as there is, and worth telling again and again, it makes for another feel-good and uplifting evening at the Dio.

SHOW DETAILS:
Violet
The Dio – Dining & Entertainment
177 E. Main Street, Pinckney
April 2–May 17 on Fridays and Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. for 6:45 p.m. dinner service; Sundays matinees at 12:30 p.m.
Price (including dinner): $41; seniors and students $37; children and groups of 20 or more $35 each
(517) 672-6009
www.diotheatre.com