"Pardon me, but I feel like I'm sitting in the dark," said veteran actor Joel Rooks, halting the first-rehearsal action to question a failed lighting cue. Rooks is an old hand at playing George Burns in the affecting one-man reminiscence of the late comic's infatuation with Gracie Allen. He just ended nine weeks at Philadelphia's Society Hill Playhouse and by now probably could perform Rupert Holmes' script under heavy sedation. But this production, with a new director in a different house, requires tweaking.
The fact that Rooks is even here, at the corner of Lafayette and Bank Streets, says something about the Cape May Stage and its artistic director, Roy Steinberg, who arrived from Hollywood's soap-opera world only months ago. Rooks had no intention of playing Cape May until he called Steinberg, a stage colleague from the '70s and '80s, to wish him well in his move east and from TV back to theater.
Steinberg, in turn, suggested bringing Say Goodnight Gracie to Cape May after Rooks' Philly run, then set about acquiring rights and offered Rooks a solid deal. "I told him," says Steinberg, "I can't pay you a fortune. But you'll be in beautiful Cape May - and I'll throw in a bike." The rest of the story is - well, it runs through July 18, with Steinberg directing.
Steinberg's far-ranging connections already are bringing other theater artists and shows to Cape May Stage. Weeks ago, he started a cabaret series to fill otherwise dark theater nights and lure Shore crowds on late-night weekends after the final mainstage curtain call. Tina Sloan, for 26 years Guiding Light's nurse Lillian Raines, will perform a one-woman show Aug. 17, and Emmy winner James Reynolds (Days of Our Lives) will play a dozen characters in a one-nighter Sept. 6.
