'Life with Father' gives testy dad his day

It was definitely a different time when the play "Life with Father" was set.

Waukesha Civic Theatre's latest light and entertaining offering goes back to more than a century ago to peek in on the Day family and its irascible head, Clarence Day (Ken Smith).

"Father" is a banker who thinks his family should be run like a business, with every penny accounted for. His home is his castle and he doesn't take kindly to sharing his space with anyone but his family. He fusses and fumes over wasted dollars, coffee not up to his high standards and relatives who invade the private haven he's tried to create for himself and his family.

His four sons and patient wife, Vinnie, have become oblivious to his outbursts but he still upsets each new maid (the Days seem to change maids as often as the bedsheets) to the point of tears.

As Mr. Day, Smith fills up each scene with his bluster but everyone seems to know how to get to his soft side, especially his wife. Karin Cunningham as Vinnie is the perfect foil. With her sing-songy voice and childlike logic (she somehow convinces her husband that, by exchanging ma item for one equally priced, she got the item for free!) she is remindful of Aunt Bee on "The Andy Griffith Show."

The play, which is more of a slice of life (a book by same name was written about the real-life Days son, Clarence Day Jr.), centers around Mrs. Day's attempts to get her husband baptized, after he off-handedly mentions that he's never received the sacrament. He has a cavalier attitude about religion, which frustrates Vinnie, and he refuses to kneel in church.

The Days' oldest son, Clarence Jr. (Ian Curtis), who has been accepted to Yale University, has worn out his suit and must wear one of his father's that has been retailored. In his father's clothes, Clarence Jr. bristles at the thought of kneeling or even having a pretty girl sit on his lap.

As Clarence Jr., Curtis takes on a maturity that would be expected of the eldest son. Curtis, who will be starting his junior year at Waukesha West in fall, even has his character strut about in the same confident manner as his father, though he's still trying to figure out how to handle the opposite sex. His ease and naturalness on stage make it easy to forget he is acting. Curtis's scenes with the Days' young houseguest, Mary (Laurie Krmpotich) strike just the right perfectly awkward chord.

Another stage natural, Matthew Welden, a veteran of both First Stage and Missoula Children's Theater, plays the Days' second youngest son, Whitney, with the right amount youthful exuberance, tempered with reluctant familial duty. When Whitney plods through the answers to his catechism questions with the family pastor, Dr. Lloyd (Curt Magoon), you just know he's got batters and bases (baseball is his favorite past-time) more on his mind than sacraments and Sunday school.

Jake Konrath (a sophomore at Waukesha South High School) as John and Josh Webber as Harlan round out the Day boys foursome. The young actors interact wonderfully with the rest of the family, helping to make each scene a little gem.

But the lion's share of the acting goes to Smith and Cunningham, as Father and his wife. Their lively, emotional exchanges require enormous energy and good timing to keep the scenes moving, and both are up the challenge.

Smaller roles are also handled capably by Michelle Anomaly as Cora, Vinnie's cousin; Sally Schneider, who plays three different maids (as I said earlier, the Days' went through maids quickly!); Art Carter as Dr. Humphreys, Rhonda Trickey as the cook, Margaret; Laurie Krmpotich as Cora's friend Mary; Lee Krmpotich as Dr. Somers; and Magoon as Dr. Lloyd.

Director Brian Zielinski, who is an expectant father himself, directed the show and elicited fine performances from all.

A bit of a departure from most plays in recent years was the closing of curtains between scenes, even though the set required little change. This actually served well as it gave the piece more of a period feel and perhaps served to hint at the passage of time. Another nice touch was the cavalcade of music - from the present day going back to the 1880s - which opened the show.

The three-act show, which had two intermissions bringing it to approximately 2-1/2 hours, is perfectly timed for Father's Day this weekend.

Though the Day family is of another era - when dad was undisputed king of his castle, or at least thought he was - families may think of their own dads as the play unfolds.

And, perhaps, smile at the thought.