Elder sister Lucy Wolcott is old enough to be pragmatic but young enough to feel inexperienced and unready for the great responsibility thrust upon her. When her younger sister Glory is sent to the sick room where their friends have been dying, Lucy’s protective instinct compels her to take Glory and escape to the streets, warming her cold and sick sister with the oft-told story of how their mother made Glory a special doll called Morning Glory – a lost doll that will eventually be found again. When Glory finds a doll similar to Lucy’s description in the mud as they scavenge for things to sell, it becomes a source of hope and joy for Glory, but a source of mixed emotions for Lucy who knows she can sell that doll for the money they need to survive.

Caroline Bower is Lucy, and she captures those torn feelings especially well – both the delight she feels on seeing her sick sister glow with newfound hope, and the quickly dawning realization that she may need to break her sister’s heart in order to save her. Caroline also has a beautiful and warm voice that makes for some great solos including If I Were a Well-Born Girl and expressing her tender affection for her sister so well in a lullaby One Kiss for Love, One Kiss for Luck (later accompanied by the spirits of their late parents). Eighth-grader Emily Calder captures the extreme fragility of fever-weakened Glory and the fear she feels as her friends die in the workhouse, and she brightens so completely when charmed by the stories of her parents, the love of Lucy, and the whimsy of their new friend Nick Button.

Ben Mackel is the charismatic Nick who enlivens the bleak beginning of the show with his And I Get By number as he tries to entertain passersby on the street for some change (without much success). He gives the girls both friendship and some expert help as they eek out life on the street. The enormously talented actor and singer Amy Van Looy adds much to the production through her three roles – all related in nature. First she is the only warm and cheery adult at the workhouse who treats the girls with motherly love as the cockney soup server Old Poll. Then she is the late Mrs. Wolcott doting on her new baby Glory when Lucy’s story of Morning Glory is played out on stage. As Lucy’s story ends, unseen by the children, the visions of Mrs. Wolcott and her husband (Chaz Pofahl) turn to gaze at their cold and frightened children with a look of sadness, concern, and helplessness. Lastly, Amy is doll shop owner Mrs. Thimblebee who lives a rich life bringing pleasure to children through her dolls. She gives Lucy an opportunity to escape the street with a job sewing hearts on the dolls’ dresses, but Mrs. Thimblebee’s own heart is in pain for a child she once knew – a pain that can be soothed by a single act of charity.

Other good performances come from Mark Sutton as both the mean proprietor of a rag-and-bones shop, and as the wife of said proprietor who laments with comical harshness that It’s a Cruel, Cruel World. Barbi VanSchaick is the very cross and intimidating Matron Wick running the workshop. A group of orphan girls feature several terrific singing voices. Their performances are instrumental in setting the early tone and the shocking seriousness of the show when the sweet, young girls, already living under harsh conditions, begin living in fear as they see their friends dying from the highly contagious fever.

Performed November 30 - December 16, 2007.

Photos by Donna Bise.

Rob Hopper
Executive Director
National Youth Theatre