<bt>Ah, let's journey back to the summer of 1928, when Adolph Menjou was the best-dressed man in Hollywood and "The Phantom of the Opera" was a favorite at local cinemas, as in Hayfield Secondary School's stellar production of Ray Bradbury's semi-autobiographical play, "Dandelion Wine."
Set in the fictional Midwestern town of Greentown, Ill., this is the story of 12-year-old Douglas Spalding (Greg Haugan), a maker of magic and wizard of wizards, who is having the perfect summer until the arrival of mysterious stranger William Forester (Brian Braunlich), who actually represents Doug as his 38-year-old, confused self. Soon after, when a mechanical fortune teller, known as the Tarot Witch (Sara Aultman), predicts separation and death in the near future, Doug's "perfect" summer begins to take a dramatic turn for the worst.
As Doug, Greg Haugan brings a sense of childhood innocence to the role and maintains excellent stage presence from start to finish. Collin Chute amusingly plays Doug's younger brother, who uses a jar of fireflies as a source of light and keeps track of random statistics such as the number of times he has brushed his teeth or blown his nose. Demonstrating the ability to convincingly play someone three times his age, Danny Yoerges, with an ounce of charm and wit, brings to life Grandpa Spaulding, who corks up clear dandelion wine and sweet summer memories to be stored in the family wine cellar forever.
Set designers Eric Arnold, Nathan Smith and Eric Zitz certainly had a few tricks up their sleeves, including a streetcar trolley, a traveling fortune-teller booth and other fanciful surprises. In addition to this, the original musical score composed by Matt Scarborough and Todd Hovey helps to convey the mood and tone of the performance.
Though there were a few slow scene changes, they seemed to be quite a minor aspect of the show and were overshadowed by a delightful helping of the dramatic and behind-the-scenes skill that the Hayfield Drama Department had to offer.