In the center of the mid-winter blues, a nonsensical roaring comedy can often serve to ward off the chill. Such a one is "Moon Over Buffalo," currently on stage at South Bend Civic Theatre.
Prolific playwright Ken Ludwig has churned out a goodly number of scripts that bear a striking resemblance to each other. The fact that several are farces of the no-holds-barred variety makes then enjoyable, even on the second or third go-round.

Ludwig, who received a Tony Award for his book for "Crazy for You," may be better known for "Lend Me A Tenor," which puts the action behind the scenes at a mid-western opera company. In "Buffalo," the setting is backstage in a theater in that northern New York city. The locale is different but the premise (not surprisingly) is similar.

A theatrical couple — George and Charlotte Hay— are playing "Cyrano de Bergerac" and "Private Lives" in repertory while bemoaning the loss of film roles in a Scarlet Pimpernel sequel to Ronald Coleman and Greer Garson. Charlotte wants to be a movie star. George is happy center stage.

Their daughter, Rosalind, has escaped her parents' legacy by taking a job in advertising. She returns to introduce her fiance, Howard, a TV weatherman, only to confront her former fiance, Paul, a stage manager and member of the Hay company. Another member-at-large is Charlotte's nearly deaf mother, Ethel, wardrobe mistress and constant source of irritation to George. Circling the action are Charlotte's backup suitor attorney, Richard Maynard, and Eileen, an ingenue with whom George has had a brief affair. Actually, the names are irrelevant and can be replaced by those in any other Ludwig farce. The performers who inhabit them, however, are what makes this — or any other — farce gather speed. Director Richard Baxter has assembled a more than competent cast and they obviously relish the increasingly frantic motion of all of their characters. As George and Charlotte, James Jones and Melissa Manier take the lead, making an early entrance with rapier-like swiftness. He is at his best when his affair is discovered and he plunges into the bottle to drown his sorrows. She uses expert timing to make the most of her self-absorbed declarations and where Jones bellows, she delivers icy barbs with stingingly hilarious accuracy and is even more effective for not projecting a consistently high decible level.

It's very interesting — and unusual — to find a comedy more than half a century old that not only is still funny but whose underlying message is just as relevant today. Such a comedy is the current South Bend Civic Theatre production  "Born Yesterday," Garson Kanin's 1946 look at what happens when a "dumb blonde"  gets "smartened up." [caption id="attachment_692" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Harry Brock (Vincent Bilancio, in red) attacks reporter Paul Verrall (Kyle Curtis) while (from left) Senator Hedges (Dan Driscoll), Eddie Brock (Scot Purkypile) and Ed Devery (Bill Frascella) attempt to intervene in this scene from the South Bend Civic Theatre production of "Born Yesterday.

The blonde is Billie Dawn, a ditzy chorine created on stage and film by Judy Holiday in the mold of characters set before and after by Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe and Carol Channing. You know there is something beneath the peroxide curls and and meeting the right educated man will be just the catalyst to bring that something out. In the SBCT version, the blonde is a redhead but the result is the same. Melissa Chapman comes on slowly, her initial offstage "Whaaaaaaaaat?" is decibels below that of Holiday, but this Billie is just as able to hold her own against the millionaire junkman who took her out of the chorus and now feels he owns her. Her Billie gathers strength slowly but surely and, when push comes to shove, she is not afraid to push back. She creates a very appealing "newborn" and the audience is with her all the way. The Brooklyn accent is not overdone and fits her ingenuous characterization well. (Small detail: even a very ex-chorus girl would know more than two verses of "Anything Goes.") Initiating her "education" is Harry Brock (Vincent Bilancio), who began as a kid picking up scraps in a wagon in New Jersey to owning junkyards around the country. His eye is on the world market and he is in D.C. to "buy" a senator (Dan Driscoll) who will push through legislature aimed at this goal. Harry is armed with Ed Devery, a former assistant attorney general (Bill Frascella), for smoothing the way, and a less-than-bright cousin Eddie Brock (Scot Purkeypile), who attends to everything else.

Few if any shows can trace their origin  to a 1885 poem.  "Annie," the multiple Tony Award-winning musical on stage at Warsaw's Wagon Wheel Theatre through Dec. 19, can do just that. The first appearance of the red-haired moppet was in "Little Orphant Annie," a poem by Indiana's own James Whitcomb Riley. The verse became visual in 1924 in a comic strip which dropped the "t" to become "Little Orphan Annie" and, in 1977,  became a musical comedy titled even more succinctly "Annie." With two film versions, revivals past and future and a long list productions amateur and professional, the Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin/Thomas Meehan creation shows no signs of stopping.

The reason why — and why it is a favorite around the Christmas holiday — is obvious in the WW production. The music is familiar enough to feel like an old friend and the heart-warming story of a small girl and her dog who triumph over every adversity is one that surely hits the audience right in its holiday heart. There are singing and dancing orphans, a red -headed waif and her adorably curly dog, a bald billionaire who can fix the problems of a nation just by picking up the phone and three dastardly, although comically appealing, villains. (Who could take thieves named Rooster and Lily St. Regis seriously?)

The obvious perils of "Annie" are finding the right pre-teens to portray Annie and her fellow orphans. They have to act, sing and dance, no easy assignment at any age. Their performances of "It's A Hard Knock Life" and "Fully Dressed" show why these two numbers are sure fire show stoppers. And then there is the dog. Sandy doesn't have to sing or dance, but he has to go to Annie on cue and not let the surrounding audience upset him (or her). The cumulative "ooohs" and "ahhs" which greeted his appearance and his comforting behaviour as Shaniah Ramsey delivered the show's anthem of hope "Tomorrow" left no doubt Sandy (aka Madison) was a hit.  The same is true of Ramsey, who creates a most endearing title character and shows a stage presence beyond her years. She hits all the right notes, vocally and dramatically and surely will be on the WW stage in seasons to come. Her nemesis, orphanage matron Miss Hannigan (Ashley Pankow), is right on as a blowsy boozer who hates "Little Girls" and dreams of a bigger and better life on "Easy Street." Joining in her nefarious schemes are her recently-unincarcerated brother Rooster (Jake Klinkhammer) and his lady love, Lily St. Regis (Jennifer Dow), "named for the hotel." Both are hilarious in their disguised attempts to cash in on Annie's search for her parents. [caption id="attachment_758" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Oliver Warbucks (Mickey Fisher) assures Annie (Shaniah Ramsey) that they will find her parents in this scene from "Annie.

Heading the search is Oliver Warbucks (Mickey Fisher), whose preoccupation with big business heads in another direction after Annie comes into his life. Fisher softens believably and "Something Was Missing," is a touching moment. "I Don't Need Anything But You," sung with Annie and his secretary Grace (Lucy Horton), stepped up the tempo and provided Horton with another chance to display her solid soprano. Of course, the icing on  the WW cake is the singing and dancing chorus, who do triple duty as "Hooverville" inhabitants, Warbucks' staff members, residents of "N.Y.C." and presidential cabinet members. Not the least of these is the ever dependable Mike Yocum who plays a laundry man, a cop and F.D.R. The set design was created for the 2004 WW production by the late Roy Hine. Stephen R. Hollenbeck's costumes allow no uncertainty as to which side of the tracks the ensemble is portraying. Lee Harris leads the seven-member orchestra solidly through the tuneful score.The entire production is in the capable hands of director/choreographer Scott Michaels. It's a great family way to celebrate the season.

"ANNIE" plays through Dec. 19 in the theatre at 2517 E. Center Street in Warsaw. For show times and tickets, call (574) 267-8041.

I doubt if there is anyone with a TV set, a good memory for classic movies or a VHS /DVD player, who has not seen the 1947 film "Miracle on 34th Street." It has become as much a part of our holiday literature as anything by Dickens or Irving Berlin, surviving an attempt to colorize the black and white original, an awkward 1994 technicolor remake and a very short-lived theatrical musical version, "Here's Love," by "Music Man" composer Meredith Willson.

Unwilling to let the original speak for itself, yet another stage version has been available for several years. Adapted by Will Severin, Patricia De Benedetto Snyder and John Vreeke, who unhappily chose to ignore the old edict "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," the play bears the name of the original Valentine Davies novel and the film. It currently is playing through Dec. 19 to very enthusiastic audiences in the Wilson Mainstage Auditorium of the South Bend Civic Theatre. With a very  cast of 30-plus, many of whom seem never to have been on stage before and  play multiple roles, and a production staff of more than 20, the two hour (plus intermission) production obviously involves a large part of the community which marches through the familiar scenario like a middle school pageant. The musical interludes (attributed to Severin?) consist of familiar carols and  holiday pop tunes delivered a cappella by a variety of carolers and inserted to cover the many scene changes. Still to be determined is the identity of the young actress playing the leading role of Susan Walker. Two girls alternate in the part but, as there was no indication of which one was on stage at the performance we attended, I have no idea whether it was Madeline Varga or Natalie Rarick. Whichever, she did a very creditable job

Under the direction of Jewel Abram-Copenhaver, the show includes the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Santa trial and the eventual triumph of faith over fact which, of course, brings together the primary couple and leaves everyone wondering "Who was that bearded man?" Actually  it is Dan Johnson, who certainly has the very real beard required for the role of Kris Kringle. In addition to young Susan, credible performances also were delivered by Debbie Grattan-Rarick as Susan's realistic mom Doris; Bill Svelmoe as Doris' boyfriend Fred Gailey; Bill Johnson as prosecuting attorney Thomas Mara; and Nicole Brinkman Reeves as a timid secretary who definitely believes. The aisles are used frequently throughout the production: as a parade route and as courtroom seating to which trial onlookers carry their own metal folding chairs off and on several times. During the former, large amounts of shredded tape are dumped on the audience, which also is snowed upon during later scenes. Obviously being included in this way is a plus for the large audiences which have already required the addition of at least one more performance to the scheduled lineup.

"MIRACLE ON 34th STREET" plays at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and Dec. 15-18 and 3 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 19. For information and reservations, call 234-1112. .