BRONSON, Dial Tones, Covey Center for the Arts (November 29 - December 22, 2007)

My husband, his brother, his brother's wife, and I went to see DIAL TONES last night (30 November), and we were all very glad we did.

The play is presented from the point of view of the computer through which all telephone calls travel, and it was an interesting exploration of what makes us human as well as of what makes us love.

The dialog was crisp and natural with no false steps. Elwon J. Bakly (Kelly) and Fallon Hanson (Hazel) were great to watch, and their professionalism as they performed with a replacement for Amelia Schow (who was supposed to play the computer AND Kelly's buddy, Dan, AND Hazel's mother, but wasn't there last night) was a joy to watch.

The replacement -- who happened to be J. Scott Bronson, himself -- was also a joy to watch. Because he had not memorized his lines, he had to read the part, but because he wrote them, he knew just how to deliver them. I kept trying to imagine a woman in the role and found that I really enjoyed seeing Scott play the part. He moved quickly and easily from computer to buddy to mother and back, and I was always clear on which character he was portraying even when the switches were immediate. I haven't seen character switches like that since I watched David Ivers and Brian Vaughn perform STONES IN HIS POCKETS at the Utah Shakespeare Festival a year or so ago -- and they used props along with their voices and actions to signal their character changes. Scott only had a script in his hands.

If you can manage to go at all, even if you can't go with other AML people on the 15th, I urge you to do it. It's a great way to spend an evening. I was touched and amused and entertained and enlightened. Even if only one of those things happens to you, it will be worth it.