Audiences who caught Cameron Dye, Michael Wells, and Maddie Lucas in Sunday’s understudy matinee of Tim Alderson’s Salvage were treated to a pair of stunning lead actor turns and one magical featured performance.

As any casting director well knows, finding the ideal ensemble is as much about fit as it is about talent, and just as David Atkinson, Sam O’Byrne, and Natalie Lllerena prove themselves perfectly meshed as Preacher, Harley, and Destiny in Salvage’s main cast, their understudies fit their roles like gloves and their scene partners as if they were born to share the stage.

Dye (who’s been a magnetic presence since he starred opposite Nicolas Cage in Valley Girl way back in the ’80s) gives Preacher a Willie Nelson-like countenance and voice that reveal a man who’s been bruised and battered by life but can still sing like an angel, and as anyone who’s seen his previous work can attest to, he’s got acting chops to match.

Wells, who won an Outstanding Lead Actor Scenie for his charismatic star turn in the UCLA World Premiere musical Rebel Genius, gives Harley a boyish verve tempered by life’s increasingly difficult demands, and his vocals and guitar work are every bit as stellar.

Lucas, a mere two years out of a Houston Arts High School, gives Maddie a fresh-scrubbed beauty and evocative pipes that prove a just-right match for Wells’ country-boy-next-door, and when the pair duet “Outrun The Wind,” get out your handkerchiefs.

Main cast member Leonard Earl Howze’s bar-tending Johnson remains the force of nature that holds both casts together.

With Salvage now extended through December 19, producers would be wise to give Dye, Lucas, and Wells additional opportunities to shine. They more than merit their own extension.

–Steven Stanley
October 31, 2021