Review: Check Out The Rivals for a Delectable Summer Romp in the Woods

By Anne Siegel, Shepard Express

There could be worse ways to celebrate a blissful summer night than watching Richard Brimley Sheridan’s 18th century comedy of manners, The Rivals. The play is among the first shows to debut this season at the Hill Theatre at American Players Theatre in Spring Green.

The above statement may sound like a back-handed compliment, but that’s certainly not the case. The renowned APT, now in its 43rd season, had loaded this production with an all-star cast featuring many favorites of regular theatergoers. Among the Core Company cast members appearing in this show: Tracy Michelle Arnold, Kelsey Brennan, Tim Gittings, David Daniel, Milwaukee-based Brian Mani, James Ridge, Marcus Truschinski, Colleen Madden and Sarah Day. If all their theater credits were lumped together, this group of actors basically has appeared in every Wisconsin theater company over the years, not to mention many out-of-state regional theaters.

But that’s only a sliver of The Rivals entire cast, which toils supremely under the direction of Aaron Posner. Perhaps “toil” isn’t the operative word, since everyone onstage seems to be having as much fun as the audience.

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