May 23 Vallejo/Vacaville Arts and Entertainment Source: Long a part of Fiesta Days, Vaca’s Gaslighters offer melodrama fun

As sure as night follows day, Vacaville’s Fiesta Days would would be a lesser event without one annual tradition: Gaslighters Theatrical Company’s melodrama.

For those interested in clear boundaries between good and evil, right and wrong, the troupe’s latest production, “Black Deeds in Whitehorse or Trapped in the Yukon,” is an entertainment ticket for the entire family during Memorial Day weekend. It opens Saturday at The Saturday Club.

“Melos” is Greek for song, referring to the incidental music used to augment the emotional tone of various scenes. Melodrama is to tragedy, it is sometimes said, as farce is to comedy. The protagonists, heroes and heroines, are virtuous and pure, while the antagonists, villains and scoundrels, are luridly evil.

As she reminds everyone year in and out, producer-director Mary Cornelison-Muehlenbruch said the melodrama is “your chance to cheer the hero and to boo and hiss the villain.”

Audience participation is part of the company’s melodramas — lighthearted productions that were the brainchildren of the late Vacaville playwright Alice McDonald and the late Vacaville composer Carol Zadnik — and stock characters and stock situations are part of the melodrama theatrical form.

As she has every year, Cornelison-Muehlenbruch, in a press statement, said, “Boos and hisses are expected when the dastardly villain makes his entrances while cheers of approval greet the brave and gallant hero who is immediately smitten with love for the fair, innocent, and beautiful heroine.”

As in all melodramas, the villain is “a conniving scoundrel out to do harm to the vulnerable heroine,” she said, adding, “All hope is lost until the dashing young hero vanquishes the evil villain, much to the chagrin of the evildoer and much to the delight of the audience.”

This year’s production, reprised for the first time in 17 years, features Alexis Velasquez making her Gaslighters debut as the beautiful, innocent heroine Nan O’Brien. She is searching for her long lost father in the wild Yukon Territory of 1874.

While searching, she experiences a series of misfortunes that the handsome and valiant hero, Sgt. Montie Stoutheart, played by Gaslighter veteran Bryan Pro, is duty-bound to help her meet any challenges.

Fearing that the heroine might come to know of his illegal fur-smuggling enterprise, the evil villain, Malcom R. Murky, played by longtime Gaslighter stalwart Oz Angst, schemes to kill O’Brien — or anyone else who might get in his way, notes Cornelison-Muehlenbruch.

Rounding out the cast are other veteran Gaslighter performers Barbara McFadden as Maude, the kind-hearted owner of the Logger’s Lodge; Lizeth Flores as Lil, a maid at the lodge; David Muerle as Coot Blatherskite, a lumberjack; Dave VanDegrift as Yukon Pete, a foodstuffs supplier to the lodge; and Linda James as Amelia, an absent-minded traveling saleswoman.

To Cornelison-Muehlenbruch, the appeal of the McDonald-Zadnik melodramas, most of which are set in the late 19th century, is simple.

“They’re family-oriented,” she said during a brief telephone interview Tuesday. “They’re just good, clean fun if you want to forget the world for a moment.”

She and the actors have been in rehearsal twice weekly for two months and every night before Fiesta Days, she said.

During rehearsals, melodrama veteran Oz Angst, says Cornelison-Muehlenbruch, has provided comedic moments “and kept us laughing all the time.”

Asked about the “emotional payoff” for persevering for the past several decades, she said succinctly that it is just “keeping it going.”

The theater troupe, riding in its own vehicle or on its own float, is part of the annual Saturday parade.

Recalling the friendship with McDonald and Zadnik, Cornelison-Muehlenbruch said, “They were so welcoming when we moved from San Diego. I owe a lot to Carol.”

Testifying to the occasional pronounced reaction that the villain can inspire, she recalled an anecdote from last’s year’s staging.

“A little boy got up (addressing the villain) and said, ‘You’ve made wrong decisions!’ ” she said. “Everyone in the audience howled.”

“We’re thrilled to be able to continue bringing the Fiesta Days melodrama back again this year,” said Cornelison-Muehlenbruch. “We’re proud to be keeping Alice’s and Carol’s memories alive by performing their unique take on a classic theatrical art form.”

“Black Deeds in Whitehorse or Trapped in the Yukon” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatrical on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatrical.com.

In addition to producing Fiesta Days melodramas, part of the annuual citywide celebration since the 1970s, the Gaslighters also perform comedic whodunit murder-mysteries done in a cabaret setting.

IF YOU GO

• What: Gaslighters melodrama
• “Black Deeds in Whitehorse or Trapped in the Yukon”
• When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m. Monday
• Where: Saturday Club, 125 Kendal St.
• Tickets (available at the door): $12 adults, $7 children 12 and under
• Online: www.gaslighterstheatrical.com