In Anita Stewart’s scenic design, the fictional town of Almost (a verbal play on Cariani’s “almost an island” hometown) is luminous in its winter-sky blues, the distant amber lights of stars and windows, and the gleam of ice under slender birches.Īnd Cariani and the rest of the ensemble – Raymond McAnally, Kathy McCafferty, and Samantha Rosentrater – move nimbly and animatedly through their range of characters: a tough, tomboyish, Polaris-loving virgin a local girl who moved to the city venturing back north, too late, to tell a man “yes” two beer-quaffing male buddies suddenly “falling,” literally, in love. “Almost” has a sweet and ebullient homecoming at PSC, as directed by Sally Wood with her characteristic brio, and the show’s whimsical appeal holds up. Now, Portland Stage brings it back as a charmed kickoff to Maine’s bicentennial celebration, in a production whose ensemble includes Cariani himself (with Dustin Tucker subbing Feb. Since first premiering at Portland Stage Company in 2004, “ Almost” has gone all over the world and become one of the most-produced plays in America. Running into an old flame at the Moose Paddy bar, modeling the metaphysics of intimacy using a snowball, and peeling off a dozen winter layers for romance: These are just a few of the rural northern love scenes of “ Almost, Maine ,” the beloved comedy by John Cariani, the New York-based theater artist who grew up in Presque Isle.
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