Word: aidman
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...Charles Aidman's 1963 adaptation succeeded partly because audiences liked the "adult" themes and partly because a political message emerged from the small rural cemetery in which it was set. All classes, races and religions from Spoon River were buried there together indiscriminately, and the equality implied naturally struck Aidman as utopian...
...Aidman's internationally toured revue, a few actors divide up seventy monologues (Masters' original had two hundred and forty four) and deliver them as souls speaking from the grave. They are complemented by two more players (Will Hines and Regina Wambui Macharia) singing folk ballads and spirituals throughout which compose a thematic matrix for the entire...
...like Dopey. However, he acts more like all the Seven Dwarfs-simultaneously. Instead of directing him, Dragoti indulges him. Pollard either mopes or mugs in every scene, and cruelly prolongs every line of dialogue that he cannot swallow entirely. There are some good secondary performances, though: by Charles Aidman as a sort of Babbitt aborning, Lee Purcell as a wilted prairie flower, and Dran Hamilton as Billy's mother. Both women have the same blind strength of will, the same poignant sense of the hopelessness of their characters that transcends the hand-tooled mannerisms of the movie...
Monday, April 21 SPOON RIVER (CBS, 10-11 p.m.). A com pressed version of Edgar Lee Masters' small-town Americana, with Jason Robards, Charles Aidman, Joyce Van Patten and Jennifer West. The original, on Broadway, was a critical success...
Still, the debilitating shock is there, and this touring company skillfully meets the play's demanding range of emotion. Charles Aidman's Quentin grows quietly, barely changing tone in most of the first act, until his final scene with Louise. The actor's mental and physical exhaustion by the end of the three hours on stage, mirrors that of the character, who has relived the most horrible moments of his life. Judi West as Maggie creates, in her first scene, the uneasiness we should expect even without our foreknowledge of Maggie's suicide. She is a pitiable, blond rag doll...