The epic story begins in the quaint city of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1918. Mrs. Porter is the kind and earthy widow raising her daughter Elizabeth while they share their house with a border named James and the ghost of her late husband Mr. Porter (unheard and unseen by the other actors, but patiently and lovingly close to his wife throughout).

As America enters World War I, James and Elizabeth go to Europe to help the cause with James going to the front lines and Elizabeth working at an army hospital as a nurse. There Elizabeth tactfully fends off the unwelcome advances of the obsessed James who has convinced himself that they are both deeply in love with each other. When Elizabeth meets and falls in love William, a soldier in the same regiment as James, the furious James warns William to watch his back on the battlefield. It’s a threat on which James follows through. But shattered by the loss of William and feeling pressured to marry James, more than one life will be lost. As the unseen ghost of William implores her to stop, Elizabeth takes a gun out of a chest and takes her own life. This riveting end to the first act ends with an ensemble of ghosts, now including William and Elizabeth, promising that their story is not yet over – that they will Live Again.

Megill & Company and Carlsbad Community Theatre have put together an exceptional cast to bring this tale to the stage for its huge premiere. In perhaps the biggest casting coup, San Diego’s remarkable Eric Anderson (who was also in the concept CD of Fate put together five years ago) creates the role of the dangerously jealous and vindictive James, expertly portraying both the lovesick, delusional James who refuses to see that Elizabeth does not love him, and the hateful James who will let nothing stand in the way of him having the object of his obsession. Karenssa LeGear shines as that object, the beautiful Elizabeth who glows in the glory of newfound love with William, adroitly and subtly demonstrates her awkwardness in dealing with the affections of James, and whose divine operatic voice leaves you spellbound with her every song. As William, Brian Maples has both a smooth voice and a feel for portraying the kind of optimistic good guy who could win the heart of a character like Elizabeth.

With a gorgeous voice of her own, Lauren Gira provides most of the few but effective lighter moments of the evening as fellow nurse and Elizabeth’s best friend Emily, her natural comic sense deftly creating this initially amusing character with a sharp wit who cares only for romance and physical attraction, with little patience for anything more concrete. But when her new husband Matt (Eric Hellmers) is killed in battle, followed immediately by the death of William and the suicide of her best friend Elizabeth, Emily takes a more sober and serious approach to her life that will affect the fates of all. Lauren and Eric are charming together as they play a mean game of poker for the most unusual wedding proposal and acceptance. Eric also joins Brian Maples in the hauntingly beautiful Look at the Stars as Eric lies dying from his wounds on the battlefield, ghosts of other soldiers eventually rising and walking towards a bright light, in the end the dying Eric and still living Brian seeing different sources of light as they “look at the stars.”

(Listen to clips from the show)

Performances through August 1, 2004.

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill

Elizabeth/Maggie: