The Reimagining of
a 1929 Avant-garde Theatrical Tale

Belgian playwright Michel de Ghelderode once described seeing a blithe little fellow walking across a city square of ricocheting gunfire in Flanders during wartime. He was reading a book. The soldiers stopped their shooting for a minute and laughed. The chap opened his bumbershoot, and continued on, unfazed. It is this holy clown, who the playwright then turns into the hero Pantagleize, who acts as a civic savior within a 24 hour revolution on oh-such-a-lovely day. It's a poignant farce to make one sad, a dark comedy to make one cheer.
In theatre artist Randall Stuart's imaginative adaptation A Lovely Day, we follow our hero Mssr. P.T. Glee throughout the city, and meet a remarkable group of citizen activists who take-on the bully oligarchs. First conceived in 2007 for a workshop production in full commedia dell 'arte style & masks, the piece was further adapted in 2009 at Pacific University for a large cast, playing a special engagement at Artists Rep in Portland. A musical score and nine captivating songs were added, penned by composer Rodolfo Ortega. 
Randall Stuart's theatre piece is a romping treasure for an ensemble of spring-loaded actors: to launch into the kind of creative non-violent revolution that actually matters. A Lovely Day takes us to where we need to be right now: with ingenuity, deep pathos, and wicked humor. There's never been a May 1st quite like it, or an umbrella that's so important.

​In these terrible times of trouble, with mad rhinoceroses roaming everywhere, there is no better moment to hear the clarion call from our dear chap Mssr. P.T. Glee and all of his brave friends: "Be terribly happy, won't you? It isn't midnight, but the hour of the good and kind people. I won't stop saying 'Let The Sun Live Long!'"

slide show:
​2009 Production:
​cast of 25, with songs & arias

slide show:
​2007 Workshop:
​Cast of 9, full "commedia" Style
Author's Note:
* There was nothing quite so wondrous as experiencing Laird Williamson's splendid 1979 A.C.T. production of Pantagleize at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco. For it was there that this particular wide-eyed usher (me) showed people to their seats, and took the theatrical ride, night-after-night: I became truly bedazzled and fiercely farce-bitten. With the glorious, soaring, impossibly perfect performance by Raye Birk as Pantagleize, and as joined by Michael Winters, Heidi Helen Davis, Sydney Walker, Joseph Bird, and a grand ensemble, something truly revolutionary was going on.
* I must add my thanks to the Portland-based ensemble who in 2007 joined me on the Ghelderode journey: Paul J. Susi, Gretchen Rumbaugh, Lauren Grace, Nico Izambard, Blaine Palmer, Jeffrey Gilpin, Kerry Ryan, and Ted Rooney.
* And a tip-of-the-hat to Ellen Margolis, Tal Sanders, Caitlin Quinn, Rodolpho Ortega and Matthew Sa for their noble artistry in the large-scale 2009 musical production, complete with 100% green-&-recycled sets and costumes.