Bringing the Rain

To understand “The Rainmaker,” N. Richard Nash’s 1954 Broadway comedy, it helps to think of it as “The Music Man,” without the music.

Bill Starbuck is a smooth-talking con man, like Prof. Harold Hill. But he’s not selling 76 trombones. He’s selling his services as a rainmaker to a drought-stricken Western farm family.

Like Hill, he’s also a lady’s man who charms the local headstrong young “spinster.” In both shows, the con game ultimately proves to have a happy outcome.

However, Interplayers would prefer that audiences compare this show to “Bus Stop,” which was a big hit for the Spokane theater a year ago. “Bus Stop” and “The Rainmaker” both come from the same era, and both possess the same good-natured combination of comedy, drama, romance and Western charm.

This Interplayers production also has the lead “Bus Stop” actors, Jonathan Rau and Kelly Quinnett, and two of the top supporting actors, Maynard Villers and Bill Rhodes.

Rau is the L.A. actor who gave a high-spirited performance as the cowboy Bo in “Bus Stop.” He was most recently seen taking it (almost) all off in the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre’s raucous performance of “The Full Monty.” He is also the nephew of John Travolta.

Quinnett is the University of Idaho theater faculty member who played Cherie in “Bus Stop.” She will play Lizzie Curry, the farm family’s outspoken daughter.

These two roles have proven to be fruitful for many great actors. The original 1954 Broadway version starred Darren McGavin and Geraldine Page in legendary performances. Katharine Hepburn and Burt Lancaster steamed up the screen in the 1956 movie version.

A 1982 TV version starred Tommy Lee Jones and Tuesday Weld. A 1999 Broadway revival featured Woody Harrelson and Jayne Atkinson.

New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson summed up the original production’s charms by calling it “a popular comedy without artistic pretensions.” In 1999, the same paper’s Ben Brantley described Nash’s dramatic construction as “clean, clear and shiny as a new-washed window.”

One of the play’s themes – that an uptight, independent woman needs a man to loosen her up – has not exactly aged well. Yet the show’s good-natured look at romance has been sufficient to make it a staple of community and regional theater. Interplayers last staged the play in May 1997.

This version is directed by Todd Jasmin, who also plays the role of File. Jasmin is the artistic director of the Lake City Playhouse in Coeur d’Alene.

In fact, this show is being produced in an unusual collaboration with the Lake City Playhouse. The production, including the entire cast and parts of the set, will be lifted almost intact to Coeur d’Alene from Oct. 26 to Nov. 10.

“We also shared some of the budget, including the costumes, props and the set construction,” said Esta Rosevear, Interplayers managing director.