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Rating 3 out of Fordyce (Very Good)

It Came from Mars has now landed in Williamston. Fresh off its premiere engagement in Ann Arbor, the crew dismantled the set at the Performance Network and took it by flying saucer to the nice little town just east of Lansing.

This is the story of several radio actors, a German sound effects man, and a nervous, yet smart receptionist. They are in the middle of rehearsing a play on October 30, 1938, when they get caught up in the frenzy of the infamous “War of the Worlds Broadcast” by Orson Welles. The first act sets you up to get to know these people and their intense rivalry with Welles, which makes you enjoy Act 2 so much more.

This is a new play by Joseph Zettlemaier now being shown at WT through April 18. The cast is a wonderful ensemble that has moved with the show. One of my favorites, Joe Albright, plays George, an obnoxious veteran of World War 1. Wayne David Parker, a veteran of Jeff Daniels’ “Escanaba “ plays at the Purple Rose Theater, is the insecure Quenton, and Alysia Kolascz is Dolores. Others in the cast include Sandra Birch and Morgan Chard as two strong and very different women of the ’30s; and there is Jacob Hodgson as Werner, the sound effects boy. When I saw this show at PNT I said in that review Hodgson’s accent wasn’t perfect. He worked on that and this time he was.

This show gets a very good 3 out of Fordyce.