'Cash on Delivery' Begins Old Lyric Repertory Company’s Season

The Old Lyric Repertory Company, a production program based in Utah State University’s department of theatre, kicks off its 41st season of live theater with the popular British farce “Cash on Delivery,” Thursday, June 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Caine Lyric Theatre (28 W. Center, Logan). Cash on Delivery was written by Michael Cooney and will be directed by W. Vosco Call.

Tickets for the production are available at the theatre’s box office. Single admission, reserved tickets are $18 for adults, $14 matinee; $15 for seniors, $11 matinee; and $12 for students, $8 matinee.

 

Cash on Delivery is a hysterical farce/comedy that gets the season rolling, said Kris Bushman, company stage manager.

 

“Farce is an art form not often done, and Vosco is a master doing it,” Bushman said.

 

Cash on Delivery doesn’t have a plot or moral, said Call.

 

“It’s a comical romp,” he said. “The purpose is to give pleasure.”

 

Call said the show is 80 percent action and timing. And for those who seek a plot summary, Call said it’s about “a wacky family in wacky surroundings that somehow sound plausible. An English conman has gone too far and his world starts crashing in around him.”

 

Previously performed by the OLRC in 1999, Call said he was asked to revive “Cash on Delivery” this season because “the audience just had a ball.” Call said the house was packed, and there were sold-out performances.

 

“If you get the right cast and the audience to accept the situation, it can be enormously successful,” he said.

 

Call said farce is very popular because it satirizes human behavior.

 

“As we laugh at the characters we laugh at ourselves,” Call said. “If it seems like it’s really happening and if the audience buys it, they will have a blast.”

 

Cash on Delivery is about a friendly, down-to-earth, honest man who, against his will, is thrust into a situation that seems impossible to get out of, said Jon McBride, a lead actor in the production.

 

Colin Johnson, OLRC producer, is excited by the return of Lee Daily (Logan) and Fred Willecke (Pocatello, Idaho), two original cast members from the 1999 season. In an original review, Cash on Delivery was said to be one of the funniest plays ever, said Johnson.

 

The play is filled with endless events so ridiculous you can’t help but laugh, said McBride.

 

“It’s one of the best things about theatre,” he said. “It’s an escape from problems.”

 

Cash on Delivery will have evening performances June 14-16, July 11, 14, 17, 27 and Aug. 2, at 7:30 p.m. Matinee performances are June 16 and July 14, and begin at 2 p.m.

 

The OLRC is supported by grants from Marie Eccles Caine Foundation, George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, USU’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Cache County Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and Anne Kennedy Roskelley Memorial Endowment.

 

Utah State University makes the Caine Lyric Theatre available for rental at reasonable cost to Cache Valley community organizations thanks, in part, to support from the City of Logan.

 

The OLRC is partner with Cache Valley businesses, including Café Ibis, Le Nonne Italian Restaurant, Aggie Ice Cream, Utah Public Radio, Cache Radio Group, Thinker Creative and Cache Valley Center of the Arts.

 

For OLRC ticket information, contact Amber LaBau at (435) 752-1500. For general inquiries, contact Jeremy Gordon at (435) 797-1500 or go to www.usu.edu/lyric. The OLRC mailing address is 4035 Old Main Hill, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-4035, or call (435) 797-3046. The Caine Lyric Theatre’s box office is located at 28 W. Center, Logan.

 

Contact: Jeremy Gordon (435) 797-1500