STAGE REVIEW 'Lion, Witch, Wardrobe' brings magic to Salem

Magic and mystery abound as four children find themselves in the mythical land of Narnia.
By GARRY L. CLARK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
SALEM -- A large cast lent its talents to Friday's opening performance of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" at Salem Community Theatre. C.S. Lewis' classic children's story, the first in the "Chronicles of Narnia" series, has delighted readers and audiences of all ages for many years.
The magical story centers around four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who mysteriously travel to the mythical land of Narnia through the back of an old wardrobe they found at an estate where they are spending the summer.
The story: The adventure begins when Lucy first enters Narnia alone, meeting animals that talk and learning that in Narnia, because of the evil White Witch, it is always winter, but never Christmas.
The foursome later enter Narnia together to find out that they are part of the answer to an ancient prophecy that will release the land from the witch's dominion through the great lion, Aslan, the true ruler of Narnia. But fulfillment of the prophecy may be prevented by treachery on the part of one of the children, thus forever dooming Narnia to endless winter.
The roles of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were well-played by Sean Loutzenhiser, Katie Brye, Stephen Javens and Kelsey M. Crismon, respectively.
Each developed his or her character fairly well, and Loutzenhiser was especially good in his sword fight with the witch's chief soldier, Feneris Ulf, portrayed with appropriate villainy by Bryan Sanor.
Roger Gaskins was excellent as Aslan, using his rich voice to both calm his subjects and bring fear to his enemies.
The part of the White Witch was played by Anna Sturgeon. Her moments of venomous outburst were very good and, at times, somewhat comical, but there was a general lack of volume to her voice at other times, as with several other members of the cast.
Doing an outstanding job as Tumnus the Faun and two faithful beavers were Tom Kusiowski, Elizabeth Ewing and Amy Crawford. Kusiowski especially deserves praise for his ability to maintain a faun-like stance and gait, very awkward for a human, but which he carried off well. Wily Dubbert/Sathoff also did well in his turn as Father Christmas.
Other cast members: Rounding out the cast as various animals, wood nymphs, elves and dwarfs were Amber Hyland, Coleen York, Cassie Utt, Matt Schomer, Becca Joy Miller, Rose Driscoll, Mary Grace Driscoll, Anne E. Saltsman, Rachel Olson, Katy Hawkins, Glenn Peison, Josh Kruegel, Nathan Price, Kyle Denney, Chezney Clemens, Caitie Rinto, Christin Price, Andrew Murphy, Sarah Pritchard, Darcy Sabatino and Kyle Snyder.
Costuming and masks for the animals and mythical creatures was excellent, most especially those of Aslan, the beavers and the wood nymphs.
Those who are familiar with the book or movie version, however, will have to adjust themselves to the children's modern garb as compared to the original World War II setting of the story. Since a time setting is not mentioned, it served as only a minor distraction.
Dr. David Dees serves as director for this production.