Cheaper By the Dozen charms at Marple Newtown Players

Theater: Marple Newtown Players
Show Title: Cheaper By the Dozen
Opened: January 18, 2008
Seen: January 18, 2008
Reviewer: Ryan Bunch
Submitted: January 22, 2008

Marple Newtown Players turns in a gentle and heartwarming performance of Cheaper by the Dozen, based on the autobiographical novel by Frank Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.

The Gilbreths were the real-life children of efficiency expert Frank Bunker Gilbreth, who had so many children that when the family was out in public, strangers would actually come up to ask why he had so many kids. His standard reply was to joke that they were “cheaper by the dozen.” Hence the title of the book upon which the classic film of 1950 and this play are based. (The recent Steve Martin film bears little resemblance to any of these.)

In the play, which is set in the 1920s, Frank and Ernestine (John Battagliese and Alison Mosier Mills) narrate the events of their secretly ailing father’s last days by way of reminiscence. Mr. Gilbreth (Ken Kroos) is a devoted patriarch who likes to run his household with overachieving efficiency and expects similarly high standards of his young brood. He puts a victrola in every bathroom so the children can listen to foreign language records while bathing, and he even demonstrates how to soap up in the tub with a minimal amount of hand movement! What the young Gilbreths don’t realize is that their father has a heart condition and a short time to live. When the oldest daughter Anne (Erin Childress) rebels, a series of mild confrontations follow in which Mr. Gilbreth fights hard to protect his children from such modern temptations as silk stockings, jazz, and trips to the soda shop with boys.

The gentle humor of the script is matched by a lightness of touch in the hands of director Sam Barrett and her cast. Kroos plays Mr. Gilbreth in an easy-going rather than overbearing way, and in certain respects it works surprisingly well. It certainly makes him likeable and elicits sympathy for his condition. Mrs. Gilbreth, played by Linda Haentze, has a more flexible outlook than her husband, which only serves to emphasize the strength of their relationship. Childress is a natural actor and thoroughly convincing in the role of Anne, and Tim O’Malley has self-effacing charm as her beau Larry. Episodes of broad humor are provided by Josh Gosselin as Joe Scales the flashy cheerleader from school and Molly Houlahan as Miss Brill the supercilious psychologist.

And then of course there are all of the kids, who fill the stage when they all appear at once and who deliver some of the most spirited performances in the show. The world of the early-20th-century bourgeois is evoked as the whole large troop of young Gilbreths traipses up and down a staircase in the center of the stage wearing an array of sweaters, and bowties. The attractive costumes, impressive set, and period incidental music complete the feel of the show.

Cheaper by the Dozen runs through January 27 at Marple Newtown Players. For tickets and information call 610-353-9181 or visit www.playersstage.org.

Ryan Bunch is a vocal instructor, writer and composer specializing in musical theater and theater for young audiences. He has provided voice training, musical direction, songwriting, script development and educational services for the Opera Company of Philadelphia, Mainstage Center for the Arts, Center Stage Productions, Chichester School District, West Chester Summer Stage, Renaissance Artist Puppet Company, and the Players Board of Chestnut Hill Academy and Springside School. For additional information visit www.ryanbunch.com.