“The Spitfire Grill” Sizzled in the Olmsted Theater

By Arpan Josan 

Adelphi’s Theater Department hosted the musical “The Spitfire Grill” from Feb. 26 to March 2 at the Olmsted Theater. The production was directed by Brooklyn-based Lily Kanter Riopelle, who is known for reimagining classics. The audience had the opportunity to listen to 16 songs, which included, “A Ring Around the Moon,” “Something’s Cooking at the Spitfire Grill,” “Out of the Frying Pan” and “When Hope Goes.” Throughout the musical, the themes of redemption and hope follow main character Percy Talbott as she settles into her new role as a cook at the Spitfire Grill. 

The play consists of seven characters: Percy, Shelby Thorpe, Caleb Thorpe, Hannah Ferguson, Sheriff Joe Sutter, Effy Crayneck and The Visitor. The story centers around the journey of Percy Talbott, a young woman who had just been released from prison and begins working at a cafe called the Spitfire Grill after starting a new life in Gilead, Maine. The musical shows Percy forming bonds with her new neighbors as she navigates life outside of prison. 

The owner of the establishment, Hannah Ferguson, is an elderly woman who lets Percy take the job after her parole officer, Joe Sutter, convinced her that she would be a good fit. Their relationship started off rocky because Hannah does not take a liking to Percy’s past and often delegates her difficult tasks. However, as the musical progresses, both characters begin to rely on each other for support. 

Tayla Madison, a junior acting major with a gender and sexuality studies minor, played the role of Hannah and discussed how she prepared for her role. 

The cast of “The Spitfire Grill.” (Credit: Sara Pallas, Assistant Director of Operations and Visit Experience)

“I absolutely love analyzing text and characters, so I always start with getting to know my character on paper. Then, I start building it into the rehearsal process. For this role I had to add more physicality than I’ve ever had to for a role before. Some rehearsals were filled with me walking around with a cane during any downtime I had,” she said. “My director even put crumpled paper in my shoe to get me to limp, which was something I carried with me into the show because it was so helpful. I also really made sure to analyze my music as I would a monologue or scene because there was so much to them.” 

The musical also explored the strained relationship of a married couple, Caleb Thorpe and Shelby Thorpe. Caleb is a man who takes his anger out on others because he feels as though he can never live up to his cousin Eli’s reputation as a soldier. This manipulative behavior of Caleb is clearly shown with his wife Shelby as he is constantly trying to exhibit dominance over her by needing to know where she is at all times. This toxicity almost escalates into physical violence near the end of the musical, when he almost hits her. Caleb’s frustrations heighten by the end of the play when it is revealed that the figure Caleb was trying to live up to was a lie: Eli deserted his duties as a soldier and hid from battle.

Liam O’Farrell, sophomore history major, reflected how he prepared for his role as Caleb Thorpe. “I had to be able to set boundaries of distancing myself from the character because he is so negative and harmful, while still playing the truth of the character and honoring his intentions,” he said. “Everyone is the hero of their own story, so I had to keep that in mind when playing him to make sure that his story was being told, even if it was a harmful one.”

Sean Sullivan, associate professor of design/technology/management and department of theater chair, shared the origins of this production for Adelphi.

“Our last full musical `Quilters’ was in 2020, when we presented one performance prior to the campus closure due to COVID. Upon our return to campus, we faced a new method of performances because actors had to wear masks and their performances didn't have audiences in the theater—we streamed our productions to live audiences in their homes,” he said. “While we may not have done a full musical since 2020, we have done shows with music and bands, like last year's production of `Mr. Burns.’” 

O’Farrell also shared his experiences in the play. “My favorite part of creating this show was definitely the sitzprobe, which is the first rehearsal when the musicians play with the cast. For the entire process we were just relying on our music director, Steven Altinel, to play the piano which was great, but finally hearing the band play with us was something else,” he said. “The show is written in a folk style so just having a piano wasn't enough, but when the accordion, guitar and bass came in it added a new sense of life into the show.”

Madison said her favorite memory from this show is the intense scene where Caleb brings Eli and Hannah grabs her broom. She also discussed how the scene where Eli entered the grill with the song “Way Back Home” was a beautiful moment but also a challenge when it came to acting. 

“Throughout this musical things just get brighter and different. Hannah wants to get rid of the grill from the beginning, but between the beginning and end, it gets a new life because of Percy and Shelby. Because of this and her new found love for Percy and Shelby, she herself is also coming alive again,” she said. “There are so many aspects of that throughout the show that honestly made me so emotional when going through the scenes because I could feel the passion and love and the energy of something coming alive within all of our characters and ourselves in this show.”