Randl Ask — yes, his real name — is an actor with a storied past and a busy future.

Ask, who admits to being "fortysomething," will co-star in Army Community Theatre's "The Secret Garden" musical, starting Thursday at Richardson Theatre. He'll appear as Dr. Neville Craven in the tale about a girl who nurses a dying garden back to life and also restores life to her grieving uncle and his sick son.

Ask Ask about his past, and you get a volley of curious, if not surprising, snippets.

For instance, he's had a successful off-Broadway and on-Broadway career, once worked with Jerry Seinfeld doing stand-up comedy, and was a regular cast member of "Mad About You" and "Lois and Clark" on television. He is also an ordained minister; now he's studying to get his credentials (a master's and a doctorate) in Chinese medicine.

"I guess it all comes back to being a performer," Ask said. "I used to get aches and pains while doing a show, so for part of my studies I moved to Maui for six years, where I was a faculty member at the Maui School of Therapeutic Massage, which parlayed me into the World Medical Institute in Honolulu. For my doctorate, I will return to New York City in 2006, and, I guess, do shows in between."

His "serious" career options started when he was treated with acupuncture and herbs for stress and injury from the rigors of putting on a show. He's been dabbling in Chinese medicine since the mid-'90s but recalls related therapy since the 1970s, when he started doing a gamut of productions.

And he's been putting on a blitz, mixing theater with stand-up comedy — and more. Not just performing in, but writing plays, too.

"I was in the American premiere company of Thoroughly Modern Millie, and I got to be good friends with Sutton Foster (who earned a Tony Award for the musical in the title role)," he said. "I also worked with Matthew Broderick in 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,' and because I had the pleasure of sharing space in a dressing room next to his on stage, I got to spend a lot of time with him and got to know him better than most.

"We still e-mail each other. If you can say one thing about Broderick, he knows how to have fun. He taught me so much about not being concerned what people think. He often made his shows fun, because he changed things all the time. It was a great experience."

The "How to Succeed" cast also featured Megan Mullally, currently co-starring as Karen on TV's "Will and Grace," and Ask remembers her "as a consummate professional. She really hit the mark."

He said he's yearned for a show biz career ever since he was a kid. When he moved to New York City, fresh out of high school — at age 18 — he wound up in a comedy mix with Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Jay Leno and other future biggies. "It was an exciting time. I have so much respect for Jerry Seinfeld; he deserves everything he got; he's a tremendously kind man, and really patient. He taught me about trusting my instincts."

Ask did stand-up for three years, then left to go into the ministry "and became a fundamental preacher — an ordained clergy, if you can imagine," he said. "So from the stand-up pulpit, I went to the church pulpit, at Bible College in Kansas. But I also had a congregation in Ohio, Detroit and Texas."

The bright lights still called.

His first role in New York was in the off-Broadway musical "Pageant," a spoof of beauty pageant contestants. He originated the role of Miss Bible Belt, playing the role in drag and giving 600 performances. In 2006, Ask will direct the same show for Manoa Valley Theatre.

He also is scripting a play called "Madame Bootzie," about a psychic lounge performer, in which he'll play the gypsy woman who is funny and, well, a cross-dresser. "I hope to have this produced when I return to New York after 2006," he said.

Living and working in Hawai'i has had a mellowing effect on Ask. "I was a diehard New Yorker when I came here: rude, fast, need-everything-now sort of a guy. Not a nice person. But I've learned that there's more to life than hitting at things and demanding."

He said his New York colleagues — Broderick, Jonathan Freeman (currently starring in "The Producers") and Mary Testa, a two-time Tony nominee with whom he co-wrote a play called "Spit It Out" — can't fathom his decision to set up roots in Hawai'i.

"These people have done theater all their lives and never did another job," he said. "They don't understand that I can do what I do and still be happy. Here, not there. In New York, they just don't understand my spiritual side; they perceive my time here as one for self-introspection, spiritual growth, when, in fact, I've had a great time."

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Saturday, May 14, 2005
THEATRE REVIEW

Secret Garden lush
with strong cast in fine voice

BY JOSEPH T. ROZMIAREK
Advertiser Drama Critic

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett quickly became a favorite upon its publication in 1911.

Its plucky young heroine Mary Lennox survives a cholera epidemic in India that killed her entire household, and refuses to give in to the depression of a reclusive uncle and gloomy country manor back in Victorian England.

Burnett had already achieved some success in 1886 with her children's novel Little Lord Fauntleroy, but little Mary Lennox works makeover magic, unlocking the depression of her uncle Archibald Craven, renewing the health of his son Colin and reawakening the garden that had been closed since the death of her aunt Lily.

The message of hope and renewal projects well in the musical adaptation now playing at Army Community Theatre, with book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon. Glenn Cannon directs a visually powerful production with restrained and presentational staging, and musical director Daren Kimura has assembled a large orchestra and a cast of singers that produce glorious sound.

Channing Weir plays the indomitable Mary with a clear, robust voice that demands a revival of Annie and a spirited stage presence that stands up to the adults in the cast. She also carries her weight in the early trio, "I Hear Someone Crying," and projects crisply among two trained adult voices.

Laurence Paxton plays Uncle Archibald with competent reserve. Having long since demonstrated his ability to play character roles, this part as a crippled, depressed humpback does not immediately seem much of a challenge. That is until he opens his full voice for a duet on "Lily's Eyes" that is an Act One show stopper.

Mary Chesnut Hicks is a lovely and powerful presence as the spirit of Lily Craven. Necessarily reserved and unable to physically participate in the action, she effectively uses her strong and fully supported soprano to create emotional connections that effectively integrate her into the scenes.

Randl Ask can't fully shed his penchant for comedy, pulling laughs that need not be a part of his role as Archibald's doctor brother, but his singing voice is there when he needs it and does not give in to Paxton's on their powerful duet.

TX Tario adds brightness as young Colin, the would-be invalid, and Justin Hashimoto displays a sweet tenor as Dickon, the gardener boy. Samuel Hesch and Kristin Jann-Fischer sing capably as the spirits of Mary's parents, and Bryna O'Neill has two sold numbers as the chambermaid Martha.

Indeed the show is so flush with well-cast roles that John Hunt's considerable talents can be spent on the small role of gardener Ben and Ghislaine Soper-Phillips can devote her articulate energies to the part of Mary's governess.

The stage is painted with light by John Parkinson's projected backdrops and Tom Giza's moldering dark set pieces. Kathy Kohl's costume design contrasts white Victorian bustles and ruffles and military uniforns for the chorus of dead spirits with somber grays and blacks for those in the moody living household.

While the staging is appropriately formal and controlled, the music is overly generous, with voices and orchestra not only washing over the audience, but tangibly lifting us up to ride on its waves.

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ON STAGE

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GENE ALLEN / ARMY COMMUNITY THEATRE Laurence Paxton and TX Tario play the tormented father and son in Army Community Theatre's "Secret Garden."

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Love tale makes
touching musical

Review by John Berger

Dark, enigmatic, beautifully sung. Army Community Theatre's staging of "The Secret Garden" presents a dramatically different perspective on this late-Edwardian story of love, loss and rebirth.

"The Secret Garden" Presented by Army Community Theatre, continues at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through May 28 at Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter. Tickets are $14 and $17. Call 438-4480 or www.squareone.org/ACT.

One prior production seen here emphasized the experiences of young protagonist Mary Lennox in adjusting to life in a gloomy Yorkshire mansion and unraveling the secrets it contained. In this musical adaptation, Marsha Norman (book and lyrics) and Lucy Simon (music) give at least equal time to the experiences of the adults, and the single most memorable song is a five-hankie tear-jerker duet by a grieving husband and his wife's ghost.

Laurence Paxton (Archibald Craven) and Mary Chesnut Hicks (Lily Craven) make "How Could I Ever Know" the pivotal number in the story. They mesh perfectly in all respects, and by the time Lily tells Archibald how sorry she is that her death has caused him so much pain -- well, there shouldn't be a dry eye in the house.

Paxton and Hicks share several earlier numbers that provide the emotional foundation for "How Could I Ever Know" and make it clear that the story is as much about Archibald and Lily as it is about little Mary Lennox. Paxton and Hicks also stand out when performing with others or as soloists.

Randl Ask has the enigmatic role of Archibald's younger brother, Dr. Neville Craven. Archibald, devastated with grief, leaves Neville to make all the decisions involving the family fortune, and he stands to inherit it as well if Archibald's bed-ridden son dies.

At one point it is revealed that Neville had hoped Lily would marry him instead of Archibald, and might be working to undermine his brother and nephew. On the other hand, Neville could be honestly doing what he thinks best.

Ask's performance also hints that Neville is torn between desire for revenge and/or material gain, and his knowledge that destroying Archibald's son would be destroying Lily's son.

Ask brings a tremendous voice to the show and proves a worthy member in the central romantic and dramatic triangle.

Paxton, Hicks and Ask provide the heart, soul, emotion and drama for this "Garden."

The kids' experiences seem light and cheery in comparison. Mary Lennox is growing up a spoiled little "princess" in British-occupied India when her parents die of cholera and she's sent to live with her wealthy uncle in Yorkshire.

The house had been in mourning since Archibald's wife died and Mary is left pretty much to her own devices. She discovers her bed-ridden cousin, Colin, who is kept shut away in his room. She also learns that her Aunt Lily had a "secret garden" left untended since Lily fell out of a tree there, gave birth to Colin prematurely, and died years ago.

In some versions of the story, Mary's desire to bring the garden back to life is the catalyst in helping Archibald come to terms with Lily's death, and frees Colin from his physical condition. In this version, Lily's ghost finally helps Archibald accept her death, while Mary and three servants secretly restore the garden and defy Neville's orders by taking Colin outdoors.

Channing Weir is spunky as the spoiled but tough little Mary; if Mary misses her parents we don't get a sense of it.

TX Tario (Colin) does his deepest work with "Round-Shouldered Man," the number where Colin tells Mary about the mysterious man who appears in his room at night.

Director Glenn Cannon and set designer Tom Giza give the show a dramatic and unusual look for an ACT production by relying primarily on projected images rather than conventional sets to suggest such diverse locales as India, Paris, the Yorkshire moors and various rooms in the Craven mansion.

Given the tremendous amount of backstory -- how Archibald met Lily, Mary's memories of India and so on -- Giza's use of light and rear-screen projectors works quite well in telling a story in which ghosts are almost as important as the living and the impact of death weighs as heavily as the promise of seasonal rebirth.