Local Doctors Inspire Northern Sky’s “Doctor! Doctor!”
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Milwaukee director and performer Matt Zembrowski returns to Northern Sky this season not as an actor (he performed in the 2009 production of Sunsets and S’mores for American Folklore Theatre) but as the playwright, composer, and lyricist of this season’s new show, Doctor! Doctor!
Set during the summer of 1938 in the fictional Door County village of Sister Harbor, the musical comedy tells the story of a small-town doctor, Doc Olson (played by Northern Sky veteran Fred “Doc” Heide) who takes a vacation, bringing in his nephew, Dr. Jim Olson (played by Chase Stoeger, now in his 10th season) to look after patients during his absence.
Zembrowski was initially inspired by an article that he read in the Peninsula Pulse about the impending retirement of an actual small town doctor, Sister Bay physician Dr. Joan Traver. He later read a book about the legendary late Doc Farmer, an earlier Northern Door country physician, and the Doctor! Doctor! character Doc Olson was born.
(From left) Fred ‘Doc’ Heide, Chase Stoeger, Rhonda Rae Busch, Kelly Doherty and Eva Nimmer in Northern Sky Theater’s “Doctor! Doctor!” Photo by Len Villano.
The story presents a classic country mouse-city mouse theme as the nephew physician Jim Olson is from Milwaukee and finds that locals are reluctant to accept a “city slicker” into their midst. And the local girl Annie Norberg can’t wait to escape Door County and attend medical school in the big city.
A second theme, one favored by Shakespeare, is the fact that the course of true love never does run smooth. Obstacles – whether the result of misunderstandings, of shyness, or of outdated regulations – stand in the way of the three couples destined to find happiness.
Because the conflicts take place within the lighthearted world of musical comedy, and occur under a twinkling starry sky, the audience sheds more tears from laughter than anxiety. Longtime company actor Doug Mancheski portrays one of the theatergoers’ favorite characters, Hank Bumpkin, a local farmer who is characterized by his surname. His malodorous comic shtick emanates both from his gastric-intestinal problems and his indifferent personal hygiene; his presence heralded by his scent before he makes an actual appearance. Ironically, Hank does not want to be touched by his physician, even when he feels that he is dying and looks heavenward to tell his late mother that he is on his way.
The most delightful of the songs was “I Don’t Trust Him,” locals tunefully singing their suspicions regarding the new physician, with Mancheski punctuating his contrapuntal quack condemnation of the newcomer with duck-wing flaps.
But all is well that ends well. With acceptable tongue-in-cheek predictability, the characters looking for love find it and are destined to live happily ever after. And the fog of minor prejudices among country residents soon lifts, revealing their solid values and commendable humanity.
Doctor! Doctor! is performed Mondays at 6 pm, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8 pm, in repertory with reprisals of No Bones About It, When Butter Churns to Gold, and Lumberjacks in Love. Guys and Does and And If Elected are scheduled for fall. For tickets and information, visit NorthernSkyTheater.com or call 920.854.6117.
