Foothill Music Theatre takes ‘Violet’ on compassionate journey

“Violet,” the musical running through Aug. 7 at the Lohman Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, is a curious blend of melancholy story, music and pathos.

For the most part, Violet’s sad story succeeds in making audiences care for her and her facial “disfigurement.” Music director Amanda Ku’s nine-piece orchestra, tastefully seen upstage in silhouette, does justice to the 22 songs by Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley.

It’s 1964 when the quiet, sensitive Violet (a finely etched performance by Kaylee Miltersen) starts off from her Spruce Pines, North Carolina, home by bus to go to Tulsa, Oklahoma with high hopes that a faith healer will be able to make her skin defect disappear. It’s pretty easy to tell that the plot is really about the journey, not the destination.

Along the route, two soldiers get on the bus at a rest stop in Tennessee. Both Flick (Thomas Times) and Monty (Brad Satterwhite) are a central part of Violet’s story, and actors both do a credible job of making their characters three-dimesional.

But it’s James Schott as the scungy faith healer/preacher who really leaves an indelible mark on this production. He oozes, he sweats, he feigns sincerity. He leads his gospel choir in all-out “Hallelujah, Jesus” shouts.

Director Milissa Carey moves things along quickly so that even with all those songs, the musical lasts less than two hours.

By far the worst mistake here is committed by whoever is responsible for creating Miltersen’s facial scar. From the theater’s second row, her right cheek looks a little redder than her other one, with a big pimple in the middle. It definitely does not look like a botched suture job Violet got after she was injured by some kind of machine her father was using when it broke.

The storyline, based on “The Ugliest Pilgrim” by Doris Betts, goes back and forth frequently from the days when her father (a kindly, understated Ray D’Ambrosio) tries to raise his teenage daughter after his wife dies. A sweet scene shows the two of them playing poker after Dad discovers Violet is failing in math. He makes her use her own money to play, which gives Violet the motivation to win it back.

Two teens share the role of young Violet: Sheridan Stewart and Sofia Oberg. Oberg performed the role on July 21. She has a lovely musical voice, but her acting and body movements seem artificial.

Although not all 22 songs are memorable, those that are include “On My Way,” “The Luck of the Draw,” “Anyone Would Do,” “Lonely Stranger,” “Raise Me Up” and “Promise Me, Violet.”

A special shoutout to violinist Emily Chiet as well as Ku and a second keyboardist, Allen Del Rosario, for their clarity of sound and lively playing.

Several others on the production side deserve mention, including vocal director Debra Lambert and costume designer Y. Sharon Peng. Yusuke Soi’s imaginative scenic design not only included the orchestra in silhouette but also what looks like aluminum siding on each side of the stage that folds out to become a honky tonk bar and other settings. Kudos, too, for whoever found or created candy treats (DOTS, Good and Plenty, Bazooka bubble gum) from that era.

Tickets for “Violet” are $20-$40 plus a $3 processing fee at https://foothill.edu/theatre/productions/violet.html.