Word: sellon
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Smart theatergoers should probably blame the director for Andy Sellon's Milo Tindle. Sellon, clearly a talented actor, breezes into Wyke's mansion, his teeth gleaming obscenely, and proceeds to act as though he's been there on countless earlier occasions. Perhaps Sellon intends to play Tindle as a rather shallow gigolo, but he is not right for that interpretation--besides, Shaffer has taken great pains to show us a much more complex, sympathetic character, a young man understandably baffled by his host's odd behavior. Sellon's ultra-smooth Milo forgets to be incredulous. He improves in his later...
Worse are the lapses that occur in the course of the action. Sellon, for example, mispronounces the word "elan" as "uh-lan." And one of the funnier lines in the play--Wyke's remark of his wife, "She couldn't get Johann Strauss to waltz"--comes out, "She couldn't get Johann Strauss to waltz." That means, I suppose, that she couldn't get Johann Bach to waltz, either. Moreover, any self-respecting mystery buff can tell you that a "mashie-niblick," that jolly skull-splitter, is a five-iron; Bloomfield ludicrously brandishes a driver. All this may sound like...
...Still, Sellon does a fine job with this thankless role. His singing voice, while not particularly strong or melodious, suits his characterization to a tee. Sellon delivers the most sarcastic lines in the play with venom, and is just as effective when silent. He has a talent mime, and his supple movements and flexible facial expressions give Littlechap the humanity that the scripted character lacks. During the final minutes of the show, Sellon all but convinces the audience that this Littlechap isn't such a bad sort, after...
Maggi-Meg Reed, in the female lead, is every bit Sellon's match. Reed plays the four women Littlechap uses and hurts most: Evie ("Typically English"), Anya ("Glorious Russian"), Ilsa ("Typische Deutsche"), and Cinnie ("All-American"). With a twist of her scarf, she switches her personality from loud and abrasive to cute and cuddly, and remains fascinating at every turn. Even when she stays on stage during a transition, she never drops out of character. Reed's vocal range and ability to simulate several dialects are also extremely impressive...
Both Reed and Sellon are freshmen making their Harvard debuts in Stop the World, and their portrayals should go a long way toward distinguishing them in theatrical circles...