Daily Herald
May 18, 2007
by Barbara Vitello

You’d have to have flint in your heart and ice water in your veins to remain unmoved by the terrific and tuneful “Fire on the Mountain.”

Great theater transports audiences to a place they’ve never been. Randal Myler and Dan Wheetman’s heartwarming tribute to Appalachian miners did that Wednesday when a talented cast of singers/actors/musicians transported Northlight Theatre’s opening night audience to the mountains of West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee and introduced them to the men whose labor keeps them warm.

The music — with its  lovely, high-pitched harmonies; rollicking tunes played at breakneck speed and austere ballads — is infectious. Try not tapping your toes to this twangy, rootsy score — equal parts folk and bluegrass, with a hint of Delta blues — which co-creators Myler and Wheetman integrate seamlessly with homespun dialogue taken from the miners themselves.

The result is a vivid, touching but clear-eyed, unsentimental portrait of frequently impoverished and often exploited people who accept the risks of their dangerous trade with dignity, grace and without a trace of self-pity or embarrassment.

“We have been Dogpatched and ‘Beverly Hillbillied’ to death,” says one of the miners. “We’re supposed to be ashamed.”

They’re not. “Fire on the Mountain” suggests their pride is well deserved.

The show —a brisk 90 minutes with no intermission, and so intimate we feel like eavesdroppers  — chronicles with humor, affection and respect the lives of men who toil in a dangerous trade in a waning industry. According to the program notes, fewer than a third of the mines operating 50 years ago remain open today and the work force has declined from more than 300,000 to about 100,000 today.

“Fire on the Mountain” does not sugarcoat reality. We experience the poverty, the disasters, the environmental damage and the devastating physical toll mining exacts. It’s all reflected in the evocative black and white photographs that flash across the screens suspended above Vicki Smith’s mine entrance set.

Lastly there’s Northlight’s fine cast made up of Molly Andrews, “Mississippi” Charles Bevel, Margaret Bowman, Jason Edwards, Tony Marcus, Lee Morgan, Mike Regan, Ed Snodderly and Bartlett High School student Trace Hamilton whose authentic, heartfelt performances make this one of the year’s most engaging productions.